Princess and the ENT

Her surgery was today, tubes in the ears. 
We got there at 6:50am and found where we were supposed to be with the help of a nice nurse who helped us yesterday.  That hospital is so large that I get so lost everytime I go there!  Anyway, so after we check in, they take Pen's vitals and have me put on her gown.  She was so happy, smiling at everyone, just being a little angel.  I snapped a few pics with my phone that I will need to put up here soon.  She looked so darn cute in her hiney hanger (that's what M calls them...P1 has a few gowns in her collection that she likes to sleep in on occasion and since the back is open, daddy calls them her 'hiney hangers' since her hiney is hanging out. LOL)

Once that's done, we're all bracelet-ed up for verification and we head to the other waiting area to be called back.  That's when she started getting fussy.  It was almost 8am and the surgery was scheduled for 7:40 so we were already a little bit behind, but no biggie.  She was just hungry and right when she was starting to have a mini-meltdown, the nurse called us back.

It was her turn.

Heart racing. Tears trying to break out.

No one wants to say goodbye to their baby, only to have them whisked away on a gurney.  Away from you.  Out of your sight.  Needless to say it was hard to send her off.  But with big kisses and hugs and making sure she had her lamby and her Paci, she was on her way to la-la land.  Sniff sniff. 

So then we waited.  Like clockword, 20 min later the doctor came out and said her surgery went beautifully.  He drained her ears which were full of fluid and yucky stuff and said that she should "hear like a dog" now!  He gave us some instructions regarding the antibiotics and eardrops we have to continue to give her and told us we could probably see her in an hour.  She was in recovery and taking a little nap now.

Again, like clockwork, 54 minutes later we were called back to the recovery room.  There was our baby girl, being cradled by a nurse and screaming her little head off.  Once she was in my arms she settled right down, but I think she just wanted food.  She started rooting around and we were instructed the day before that she wouldn't be able to eat until she got home.  That wasn't going to fly with Miss Pen Pen.  They did say she could have Pedialyte, Water or Apple Juice so we took the Pedialyte and the first 2oz were gone in no time.  She chugged it down!  Then she started hollering for more.  I looked over at the nurse's station and someone came running over to give her more.  She sucked almost all of that down, but then I think she realized "HEY, THIS ISN'T MILK"!  And she was pissed!!

After 20 minutes of her just bawling and bawling, she finally settled down.  During that time the nurse told me that she's irrated due to the anethesia and that it happens to a lot of the kids.  Since I've only been under twice in my life for surgeries, I can tell you it's because they are waking you up.  During that time you are knocked out, it's the best sleep of your life and then it's OVER.  Someone, annoying at best, is telling you to open your eyes and wake up.  Over and over again you hear that.  So I don't buy that it's the medicine.  It's the bonehead who is trying to wake you up and you get ticked!!!!!! 

Finally we're discharged and given our post-op instructions.  Breastmilk first, than real food, than formula.  Antiobiotics twice a day and eardrops 3 times a day for 4 days.  No swimming for a week.  Put a cottonball in there during her bath for a week.  Give her Tylenol for the discomfort.  Make sure you're careful about keeping the volume level down in the house. Since she can hear now, some things may startle her that never did before. 

Once we were in the car, she slept the entire way home and didn't make a peep.  She was out cold.  I brought her in and she slept for almost three hours in her carseat!  I was going to put her in the crib, but I didn't want to be that aforementioned annoying person trying to wake her up when she was enjoying her slumber!  Plus, I was sleepy so I layed down on the couch next to her and we both slept for that long! :)

When she woke up, I nursed her and then she fell back asleep.  After a little bit, I woke her back up and she was her normal, smiley, happy little self again!!!!!  SUCCESS!!!  Tonight all she did was play and eat!  She took her meds like a pro and now she's sleeping peacefully!!  Thank you all for the prayers & well-wishes!   It means more than you could ever know!!!!!! *hugs*

My Blog

If you're one of my FB friends, please keep my Blog on the DL on there.  A lot of family members don't know I write one and I'd like to keep it that way!  Where else can I blitch about them?!?!  THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My outlet

Here's a preview of something I do in my spare time!  Scrapbooking & Custom Invitations.  I'm available for hire . (wink wink) :)

Here is my latest design for my SIL's bday party coming up.  Her mom called me yesterday and asked if I could make them.  Since my collection of stuff rivals 3 aisles of Michaels, I told her I could probably come up with something.  This is it!  Tell me what you think!! 

I was right!

I've been absolutely right on the money with two things this week. 

For one, my baby does need tubes in her ears. :(  We had our ENT appt yesterday and the dr said her ears are so completely filled with fluid that it's quite possible everything she hears is muffled.  In order to allow the fluid to drain completely and free it from bacteria, the tubes are, and I quote "a no-brainer".  The dr. wants to do the surgery next week, but we're still working out the details.  It will be soon.  I'm sad that she needs surgery and she's so young, but I will feel more sad if I let her continue to be in pain and put her hearing at risk.  So that's that.  Guess she really wants to be like her big sister!

The other thing I was right about is the sex of my friend's baby.  Alison lost her baby girl, Moira, four days after birth and now she's been blessed with another little girl whom they will welcome into the world this summer.  I was pretty sure it was a girl from the beginning.  So much that I even bought something for this baby girl way before she was even conceived!  So it doesn't surprise me much that I was right!  I'm so happy for them!  I really can't stand when people become pregnant and others say "you really deserved it", as if to say to someone who has yet to conceive "you don't deserve it, that's why you're not pregnant yet.". KWIM?!  So I'm not going to say that Alison & Dave deserved this baby, I will say they NEEDED this baby.  Congrats again, Alison!!  I'm so thrilled for you guys!!!   

Pic Post of P2

                 Just because I was in a Snap-Happy mood tonight!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to the ENT we go

Pen has ear infections, way too many in fact.  Our Pedi finally said enough is enough and we're going to see the ENT tomorrow to discuss the possibility of putting tubes in her ears.  He's a great doctor in town, a pediatric specialist (I will call him Dr. Ear), and what makes him even better is that he did P1's tubes 5 years ago.  Even with tubes, a child can still get an ear infection, but the severity & frequency is much less with them than without.  I think P1 got two more EI after her surgery.  They were nothing compared to what they were like before.  TMI warning.  P1 must have had a high tolerance for pain because we never knew she had an EI until the night before her eardrum would burst.  Meaning, the infection would fester and increase too much that eventually the pus would erupt out of her ear.  Seriously disgusting and it looked like Gerber peas.  YUCK.  In fact, the first time it happened, she woke up with the green slime and I was thinking she had eaten peas at school and they didn't wipe her face good enough the day before.  Eeeeewwwwwww.  That happened two or three times before she finally got her tubes. 

Well thankfully P2's have never burst like P1's but I'm hoping the ENT will offer some good suggestions based on her history.  Although I don't want her to have the surgery, what I want and what she needs are two different things.  We'll see what Dr. Ear has to say tomorrow!  Wish us luck!

P2 Vs. Groban

At first, P2 is showing off her crawling skills, but the cat catches her eye!
P2 vs Groban, part 1


Part 2, P2 is stalking the cat and backs him into a corner.  What's funny is that the cat door is right in front of him, but he chooses to go another route.  Sorry for the quality, just look for the black blur that flashes over the baby! 
P2 vs Groban, part 2

Breastfeeding Sucks

Hate it.  Despise it.  Detest it. Loathe it. 

But, I do it because it's the best, it's free, the delivery is quick, and oh ya, it's free. 

It hasn't come easy, that's for damn sure.  BFing and I have a Love/Hate relationship.  Most of the time it's a hate one.  I think I only love it when it's 4am in the morning and a little girl is screaming her head off.  A half comatose me only needs to lay back down with her and pop the boob in her mouth and BAM!  silence and back to sleep we go!!!   It's a beautiful thing.  Anytime else and it just sucks.  Don't even get me started on the biting.  Labor, Vaginal Hematomas, &  Kidney Stones are slightly more painful. 

I've been nursing her since she was born, but I do have to say it's not exclusive.  My supply was non-existent for a few weeks and I wasn't about to let my infant starve.  Colostrum my arse.  Never EVER saw a drop of that stuff.  So, for both of my girls, their diet consists(ed) of breastmilk AND formula.  I've accepted it, so should you.  I highly commend those gals (My heroes Amy & Shalonda come to mind!) that are able to nurse exclusively, but that's so not me.  Both girls are lucky to get what I'm able to give. 

That brings me to my next blitch.  Oh ya, I forgot to tell you all I'm coining a new word.  You heard it here first.  Blitch- verb, means to bitch in your blog about something recently in your life that has you ticked off.  To Blitch.  I'm going to Blitch today.  I have a lot to Blitch about.  Nope, nothing to blitch about today.  Why don't you go blitch about it instead of whining to me about it. 

You get the idea.

So, my current blitch is my supply issues.  Since P2 is eating a lot of baby food now (which I'm still making myself! Yae me!) her demand has slacked off some.  My supply has never been great in my opinion, but with the new foods it has dropped significantly.  I'm trying to up it again.  I've increased my pumpings at work and also increased my fluid intake.  This is also the second day I've been taking Brewer's Yeast tablets every 3-4hrs.  Just a few days ago, I was barely yielding 4oz with my two sessions.  Today I'm happy to report I've pumped 7oz in my two sessions.  That's almost a 50% increase.  I don't think I'm out of the woods, but it's a start.  I'll report my harvest for a few days in a row and see how it goes!   I think I need to post some new pics too!  Until then.......

Why I don't cook

Everytime I try to get crafty in the kitchen, it never ceases to become a total disaster.  I either hurt myself in the process (and have the scars to prove it) or dinner turns into cold cereal because mom burned the dinner, mom undercooked the dinner, mom spilled the dinner, etc etc..  All of those have happened at one time or another.  My hubby is the best cook and the sweet guy that he is always encourages me and eats what I make with a smile.  MOST of the time.  I can tell when he doesn't like something.  After 10 years, you just know.

So last night started out great in my mind.  I got a recipe from my friend April for a stew recipe and thought it sounded easy enough.  I prepared everything the night before to cook all day in the crockpot.  I followed the directions as she posted them and she even told me that to watch it because if it cooks too long, the potatoes will turn to mush.  Which actually is OK with me!  I like them that way!  Anyway, so after all day in the CP, I come home to find the potatoes and the carrots are rock hard. :(  I guess there was just too much in there and they just didn't get cooked.  So M cranked it up to High and we waited.  I thought an additional 30min would do it.  So I started making the cornbread muffins. 

It was from scratch, so I followed the directions and put them into the greased muffin tins.  Then I remembed salt.  Crap.  I forgot to add the salt. I had two options; I could scoop out the batter and put it back until the bowl and then add the salt. OR I could put a little salt into each muffin and mix it up.  I chose the latter.  When that was done, I went to pop them in the oven and the oven is ice cold.  I forgot to turn it on.  Grrrrrrrr

At this point I'm starting to get frustrated.  What made it worse is that P2 was having a fit in her highchair because daddy was trying to feed her squash and she doesn't like squash.  Plus, she wanted mommy.  Mommy was busy so she was hollering.  Then, M & P! were going to her school for some kind of function and they were on a time schedule and unfortunately dinner wouldn't be ready in time.  Anyway, so after they leave I put the muffins in the now heated oven and set the timer.  Now the package recipe said 20-25 muffins.  To be safe, I put them in for 20min.  I take the now screaming P2 out of her highchair and we procede to play on the floor in the living.

After about 10min, I notice the smell of the cornbread.  Mmmmm, smells good.  Wait, it hasn't been 20+min.  It's been like 8.  I'm noticing the smell is getting stronger.  Finally I get up and run over to the oven.  Yep, they are one minute away from being flamin' hockey pucks.  WTH?!??  The timer said there was 12min left to go.  Really, WTH?!??  So my dinner officially earns the score of FAIL.  I have a ruined, undercooked, overcooked heap in my kitchen.  Oh well, guess what we're having tomorrow.  Maybe then the stupid potatoes will be thoroughly cooked.  Maybe. 

Can't Catch a Break

I just got a call from P2's school telling me that she's running a low-grade fever and has been a bit fussy this afternoon.  Poor little girl bounces from illness to wellness every few weeks.  She's been off of her ear infection antibiotics for two weeks now and it's been almost two weeks since she started getting sick again.  When I brought her in for her two week recheck for her ears on 1/5 (sidebar: she weighed 16lbs14oz w/diaper!), she was starting to get sick again.  Dr told me to watch her and see if she starts getting worse. A fever of 101^ is OK and nothing to freak out over.  Anything over 101 and you start getting into the danger zone.  Even still, I remember our Pedi at the time telling me P1 (at age 4) can have a 102-103 fever for 7 days and not worry about it.  Ya, I wasn't sure if I believed that, but when we took her in to see him on day 4, he just sent us on our merry way.  It was like her body knew, because on day 8 were going to the ER no matter what.  Well, when she woke up the morning of the 8th day, the fever had finally broke and she was fine.  It was weird. 

Anyway, we might be taking a little girl to the dr tomorrow if she starts getting worse.  P2 is heading down the same road that her big sister did when she was 2.  Tubes in the ears.  If she gets another ear infection, I think it will bring the total to 5 in 8mo.  P1 had 9 in a year before she finally got the tubes right after her 2nd birthday. :(    I hope & pray she doesn't need them. 

Crawling is so Overrated...

Or P2 would have you believe.  She's an Army-Crawling fool!  She's scoots like nobody's business and her tumbling (errr, rolling) skills are Olympic quality!  Right now she does this thing where she gets up on her hands and uses her tippy-toes to hoist her torso off the ground.  She stays like that for a few seconds and then belly flops to the ground.  It's quite funny.  I need to get it on video!! 

My Ghosty Has A First Name, It's

P-I-P-E-R, my Ghosty has a second name, it's L-I-A-Rrrrrr.  Yep, no ghost, just a little girl who was sneaky (and hungry apparently).  She confessed yesterday.  So, as any good parent would, I followed through and she got in trouble for lying about it.  She really had us fooled.  She was crying and everything when we initially suspected it was her.  Hmmmm, am I raising an actress???? 

Our ghosts prefer donuts

Something happened at my house this past weekend and no one is owning up to it.  That leaves me to believe that we have ghosts (or fairies or gremlins or leprechans etc...) and they like donuts. 

A few weeks ago I bought two packages of Mrs. Bairds mini donuts.  They were a BOGO and being the coupon lover that I am, I HAD to buy them.  OK, not really, but they were a treat for the family and I think I was hungry while shopping!   SOoooooooo.  Flash forward to Thursday when the girls and I were home for the day.  P1 asked for something for breakfast. While I was looking in the pantry, I saw those two half empty bags of donuts and thought "I need to toss those since no one is eating them".  I got side-tracked and just left them in there.  I have a thing about not eating fresh stuff like that after it's been opened for a while.  I don't care if it's still edible, I will toss it if it's been around a while.  On the other hand, M will eat anything! 

Yesterday, while in the pantry once again, I see the bags and this time grab them to toss them.  The first one was empty.  Odd.  I grab the second one, not a crumb to be found.  OK, so I immediately get all mom-like and start hollering "who ate the last of the donuts and didn't bother to throw the bags away?!?!?"  I hear a "Not Me!" in stereo from M and P1.  I said I KNOW I didn't eat them, so WHO DID IT???  Both of them completely deny that it was them.  After a while of all three accusing the other for this minor offense, no one is taking responsibility for their actions!  I hadn't had a single donut since they day I bought them, and M said he left about 5 in the bags a 'few days ago' so that leaves P1.  Now she's known to be a little sneaky and I remember her coming into our room on Sat morning saying she was hungry.  We told her to wait and we'd get up to make her something. She completely denied eating the rest of them.  I told her she wouldn't get in trouble for eating them, but she would get in trouble if she lied about it.  

So, being a mom, not a bright mom sometimes, I tell P1 to swear on Jesus' name and that if she lies about it she's going to HELL! <-----One of my not-so-bright Mommy moments, but I kept stressing she wouldn't get in trouble if she ate them but she better not lie about it.  Well, she said she swears.  So that leaves us out of options.  It's not a big deal, but REALLY strange. 

Heck, if I ate them, would I be blogging about it?!?!  We know sometimes P1 has been known to sleepwalk, and M's grandma who has Alzheimer's was known to wake up in the middle of the night, go hog wild in the fridge and then go back to bed. She would wake up in the morning and not have any memory of it.  Just a fridge that looked like a bear had gone looking for a snack. (Sad, huh?) 

I think it's funny that everyone has denied it.  I said I think it's P2.  We only think she doesn't know how to walk...as she's giggling to herself with a powdered-sugar grin!!   

Maybe we need to set up a camera and see who the culprit is!  I wish it were me...that would explain the weight issues I've had all my life! 

Sears, You Suck...Kinda

As I mentioned in the previous post, the girls and I decided to bear the elements and venture to the mall on our snow day.  We were given some pots and pans from the inlaws for Xmas and my husband, the cook, wanted a different kind of cookware so I decided to return them.  The inlaws were Ok with this and gave me the receipts so we wouldn't have a problem returning them and getting back what they paid for them.  Sounds simple enough, right?!  hahahaha

So I take pan #1 back to Macy's.  My MIL put it on her credit card and I thought it might be a little tricky getting the cash back.  Nope, easy as pie.  They were gracious, completely helpful and gave me the refund with a happy smile. :)  Sweet.  LOVE Macy's!

Now, I have pots #2-4 to return back to Sears.  Here is where it gets ugly.  Long story, but my BIL used to work for Sears, 10+yrs ago.  I guess recently there was a class action lawsuit against Sears for commission wages not paid years ago.  A settlement was reached and monies were paid, BUT they were sent out in the form of Sears "Reward" cards (aka, Giftcards).  That seems kind of a BS way of handling it if you ask me, but whatever.  So my SIL received this card and did what anyone would do.  She spent it!!  What's better, she spent it on Christmas gifts.

So, on this particular receipt she had paid with the reward card and with her debit card.  Seeing as I had the receipt and the items were new AND it wasn't an obscene dollar amount to be refunded, I didn't think it would be too  much of a problem to get the cash for it.  So, the cashier does the return and it comes to a whopping $64.  He tells me I can get $20 in cash (the amount she put on her debit card), but the rest will have to be on a gift card.  Now, I must say that being a corporate buyer, I KNOW what the stores are capable of doing.  ANYTHING they FEEL like doing, regardless of 'store policy'.  Now, I'm not saying this for everyone to take advantage of big box stores, but I'm saying because as someone who has worked the full retail spectrum, I know some rules are made to be broken, and some policies have more wiggle room than others.  So, with that said, I tell the cashier I don't want a gift card because the pans I want are at a different store.  True story, my hubby (the cook) wants industrial strength cookware from the restaurant supply area from Sams Club.  Anyway, so the cashier argues with me and I then request to speak to someone higher than him.  Meanwhile, I'm being nice and professional about it.  You can attrack more bees with honey than vinegar. ;)

So when retail boss comes to speak with me, I tell him the whole story, even mentioning that that these were gifts and purchased with a giftcard that was received from a settlement blah blah blah.  He says that's the store's policy and he could give me $40 in cash back (a step up from the $20 the previous guy offered me).  See, point proven.  They can do whatever they want.  I again said that wasn't going to work.  I then asked to speak with their GM (general manager). Keep in mind, I've got the two Ps, and by this time I've been there for 25min now.  At this point it's getting to be a battle of the wills and it's about the principle now.  In my eyes, it came down to a whopping $24 and some change and I'll be damned if I'm going to suck it up and let the 25min I've waited be in vain!!  I did do something productive while I was waiting.  I carefully looked over their return policy.  Not anywhere does it say that refunds must be given back in the way of which they were originally tendered.  Another point that their policy is open for interpretation.  AKA, it will be given & decided on a case by case basis. 

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for this GM to show up and of course they are never in any hurry.  Now, for my job, there is one GM per region and rarely do they happen to be at the store you are at.  I'm thinking I was waiting on just another store manager.  While I'm STILL waiting for this woman to come up, I take my handy-dandy IPhone and lookup Sears Corp number and I procede to call them.  HA!  While I'm on hold the cashier gives me the managers number, their store's # and her first and last name.  All the ammo that I need to report this person to Corp. 

Finally, after 40 min of waiting, this woman comes up and starts telling me about their policy blah blah and I tell her no where in their policy does it say cash refunds are only given if cash is paid from the get-go.  Now I do know most companies do have that unsaid policy, but again, at this point I was ticked.  If they can give me $40, they can give me the full $64.  Anyway, so as I'm talking to her, I mention that I'm on the phone with Corporate .  This woman was giving me attitude and just being obnoxious until I started talking to the gal on the phone.  My first words were "Hi, My name is Mrs...... and I'm having a problem at one of your stores right now".  Right then I hear the B in front of me say "oh no there is no problem, I'm going to give you your money.".  I repeated to the gal on the phone "well apparently there is no problem, but I'd still like to share with you what happened." So once I was given the cash (not so happily from that B woman!), I walked out of the store and proceded to tell their Corp Exec, Customer Relations Dept person the trouble I was having and how long it took to be resolved. 

After about 10min on the phone with her, she wanted to give me something for the inconvenience.  I said that would be fine, but I wasn't calling to get anything, I just wanted the cash back.  So, for my pain and suffering ;), Sears is sending me a $50 gift card!!!!!!!  HAHAHAHAHAHA

I think I might be able to find something I like in there! ;)

Unexpected Day Off

We had an eventful day last Thursday.  The news kept talking about some freezing temps that were coming our way and it seemed to have everyone in panic mode.  That's the thing about where we live.  Here in TX, if there is any kind of extreme weather, it causes the city to shutdown!  Now I know you all will laugh (my northeast friends), but an inch of snow around these parts is like a storm of blizzard proportions where you live! 

Well, we knew this weather was coming.  In the teens at night and a high below freezing during the day, for 3-4 days in a row.  So, it was going to be cold.  On Wednesday night we prepared for the next school/business day as usual.  On Thursday morning I woke up to the alarm radio.  I heard the radio people talking about how cold it was but that was it.  No snow, no ice, and certainly no school closures.  Or so I thought.

Since we were running late (as usual), I asked M to drive P1 to the bus because I didn't want her to miss it & have to stand out in the cold.  They said their goodbyes and I continued getting P2 ready.  As I'm pulling out of the driveway I see both M and P1.  Now I'm thinking he should have just driven her to school so I'm confused why they are home.  He said the school looked like a ghost town.  Not a soul there and not a light on in the place.  Baffled, I said I would just take her to P2's school for the day (they allow me to do that since P1 used to go there when she was younger) OR I would just take her to work with me (I'm fortunate that my company is flexible enough to allow me to do that too!).  So before I drive over there with both girls, I call the school just to make sure they are still open.  NOPE.  I get a recording saying they are closed for the day. LOVELY.  So M and I flip a coin and I win and get to stay home with the girls!  When I got inside the house and turned on the TV there it was, ALL the school closures listed and our district was there.  Oh well, that's what I get for not checking.  It was odd though because we didn't have any snow OR ice.  It was just butt a$$-naked cold!  An unexpected weather day so what are we going to do with our free day?!?!  Much to P1's chagrin, we need to clean and take down our Xmas decor!   We also went to the mall.  More on that in another post! 

So Busy

Sorry I haven't updated in a while.  It's been a busy start to the new year and there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day!  Such is life!!  I have many o' posts in mind, so stay tuned!

Unbashful Pic Post

Just because they are too cute!

He Sings

You think after 10yrs being with someone, you would know the ins and outs of them.  This morning, I actually learned something new about my hubby.  He sings in the shower. I've heard him sing along to the radio in the car before, but singing in the shower is a new one. 

Now everyone who knows me IRL knows that I sing.  Like, REALLY sing.  My first performance, solo performance was at age 3.  I've since performed on cruise ships, sang the National Anthem at baseball games, performed for thousands in musicals etc etc... So everyone knows that I sing.  I'm especially a diva in the shower!  But really, aren't we all Celine Dion in the shower?!?! 

Anyway, this morning I was putting away laundry in our room and I hear this voice coming from the shower.  Not loud by any means, but clear enough to make me think "where is that coming from?!".  I creep over to the bathroom door and there I hear him.  My hubby, the first time EVER to my ears, singing in the shower!!  He didn't sound bad either.  He was actually in tune.   I was going to open the door and say something, but I didn't want to make him self-conscience about doing it so I quietly smiled to myself and figured I would just blog about it!  He made my day and he didn't even know it. :)

Hello 2010

So it's official.  Not even 3 full days into 2010 and I've already blown my resolutions for the new year.  I think I left my willpower in 2009 (or was it 1994?!).  Well, to be honest I didn't really make any true resolutions for that reason right there.  I break them.  Always.  So, this year I was proactive and thought I would take baby steps in making life changes throughout the year and not call them resolutions.

Tomorrow I start with my new morning regime.  I've been bad lately about getting to work on time.  It's kind of understood in the office that if you get there before 9am, you're fine.  I've been sqeaking in at 8:59am most mornings and it needs to stop.  I'm really supposed to start at 8am, so I need to start making changes to allow that to happen.  The first being, setting my alarm clock for 6am and getting up right away instead of setting it for 5:30 and snoozing til 7am!  P1 received her own alarm clock for Christmas and she's set to wake up at 6:15 every morning.  My goal tomorrow is to get up at 6am and hit the elliptical for 15min, make and eat breakfast with P1, and then proceed with my morning.  HOPEFULLY my plan will work and it will be a smooth transition for us.  P2 hasn't kept the same sleep schedule in months so she will be the only one allowed to throw a monkey wrench into my plans!!  Maybe after a few days of this, she will get into the habit of waking at the right times.  Wish me luck!!!!!