Life with our Two Sweet Ps

What is up with the Chinese Spam?!

2010-08-03T22:44:00.000-05:00

Does anyone else get that crap?!? Any tips to avoid it????

Grrrrrrrrrr.

Anyway, howdy friends. Not much going on, but then everything is going on!!!

Got the girls pics taken this past weekend. Had my FIL's 60th bday party on Sat. Preparing for my first fill next week . That's when this WL should REALLY start. Right now everyone keeps asking me how much weight I've lost, and the sad truth is not enough for almost 5wks out. Until I get a fill, which brings restriction, I'm pretty much just dieting and using willpower (HA!). So needless to say, the WL has stalled until further notice.

If you haven't seen them already, here are a few pics of my girl-rillas. They turned out OK, but the photog was kinda dry and didn't really engage them as much as he should have. He got a few decent ones though. It didn't help that Miss P2 is teething so therefore she was being even more grumpy than normal.

I'm still trying to get them noticed for the roles of Renesmee Cullen. heehee ;)

July has been busy

2010-07-18T21:52:00.000-05:00

A little update since I haven't done that here in a while!

July is turning out to be a busy month for our little household. Besides having Wooky injured earlier this month (still don't know what happened to the poor animal), it's been a costly one too.

The first weekend was 4th of July! My DH likes to go in with his parents and buy a boat load of fireworks. This year we skimped a little, meaning we didn't have any leftover like we usually do. Ya, we go nuts. Even after 9 years in Texas, crazy fireworks are still a novelty for us wayward Californians!

Here are a few pics!!

My girls!

The following weekend, we headed to Houston for a family reunion. Yes, I know I'm from CA, but most of the extended family on my mom's side, are all from Texas. It was just an overnight trip for us, but it was nice to get out of town, and even nicer to be surrounded by our dear family. My mom & grandparents flew out from CA. My Aunt's family drove from CA and my Uncle and his family drove from CO. After the reunion, my mom and I took the girls to the beach for a few hours.

P2 HATED IT!!!!! She screamed for the first hour and a half. While P1 was having a blast swimming all around, P2 wasn't having any part of it....UNTIL the last 30 minutes we were there. She played in the sand and had a great time. Silly girl!!! It was gorgeous there. Refreshing, clear (no oil!) water, and soft sand! I could have spent a week there. Maybe next summer! Here are some pics of the beach!

I also took this video and I think I need to send it in to AFHV! It's pretty self-explanatory!

Next weekend P1 and I will be attending the theatre to see my all time favorite musical! Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! I LOVE this show so much! I've seen it many times and can't wait to share the experience with P1. My inlaws bought us (DH & I) the tickets for our anniversary back in April, but DH has since opted out. Fine with me! I'm always up for mother-daughter bonding with my princess!! We'll do lunch downtown and then head off to our show! We both are excited! Which reminds me, I need to load one of the soundtracks (I have many!) onto my IPod so we can listen every day this week in the car! She needs to be able to singalong too! :)

THEN...the next weekend, we have my FIL's 60th birthday!!!!! Now my DH is only 33, so to have a dad that is in his 60s, seems SOOOO old to me. Shhh, don't say anything! My mom is in her late 50s, but still, that sounds better than being in your early 60s. Anyway, so that will conclude our busy July!

Big Changes

2010-07-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! Long time, no blog. Life sometimes gets in the way and when big changes are happening in your life, the blog...Correction: the family blog, is the one thing that gets neglected.

For my friends on SK, I've been laying low on there too. I've noticed I'm not the only one. Our DIM board looks like a ghost town and although I still 'see' most of you on FB, I feel bad for the others that aren't on FB. It probably looks like we vanished off the face of the earth.

Well, I'm still here.

So as I was saying, big changes on the horizon.

I feel like I've been keeping a huge secret from most of you. Truth be told, I have been. I didn't want to seem like a failure. I didn't want to appear to be 'taking the easy way out', and I didn't want to make myself seem vulnerable to my friends. If you're reading this, I consider you a friend.

So as most of you know, I've been struggling with my weight my entire life. Despite only gaining a few lbs during pregnancy, and losing a bunch shortly thereafter, the weight always finds me. After P2, the same thing happened. After a year of having her, I gained back roughly 30lbs and there wasn't an end in sight. I was starting to having difficulty getting around with P2, going up a flight of stairs would kill me, and in general, life was not good.

After much research and soul-searching, I decided to have weight loss surgery. With my husband's and family's 150% support, I made the call with the surgeon back in April and I'm happy to report that as of this past Tuesday, June 29th, I now have the Lap-Band.

I'm in recovery now, and am in what we call Bandster Hell. For anyone who thinks this is taking the easy way out, I highly recommend you to research all that comes along with the band. Yes, many great things will come (I've already lost 16lbs in 2.5wks), but with it comes a lot of work. Mostly to the tune of diet and exercise. So, no, it's not an easy ride, but the results will be long-lasting and the health benefits will be priceless. :) I'm excited for my new life with the band and I intend to make it work for me.

I have two beautiful girls to live for, and an amazing husband to share the rest of my life with, so I needed to be around for all of them. No, I'm not trying to be a bikini model (bwahahahahah), I just want to be 'normal' and at a normal BMI. Where I was heading, I was at the cusp of developing serious health problems, not to mention strokes and heart attacks.

I've been keeping another blog, and if you'd like to follow it, it's http://www.fatchickbgone.com/ I welcome new followers and positive comments. It's taken a lot for me to share this with you, and I hope I made the right decision.

As of right now, I will be keeping the two blogs separate. Maybe once I get down to my ideal weight, I will merge the two.

So that's that. A few of you already know, and I thank you for keeping this on the DL until I was ready to come out of the fat closet :).

OH- I HAVE NOT GONE PUBLIC ON FACEBOOK- SO PLEASE DON'T TALK ABOUT IT!!!!! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Scrapbooking Retreat!

2010-06-12T11:27:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, a friend contacted me and asked if I would like to attend a scrapbook retreat! Is a pig's ass pork?!?!?! OF COURSE!!! JEEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So that's where I'm writing from! Yes, yes, I should be scrapbooking, but I'm taking a break for now!!!

The group of gals I'm with are hilarious and we're having a good time!! The food has been great, the inspiration is plentiful and the atmosphere is heavenly!!

Here is a pic of one of my creations!! I think you'll recognize the subject.

Hi Neglected Blog

2010-05-13T22:47:00.000-05:00

The man took away my access. Yes, my work cut off our access to blogs and personal sites, so now I'm left to update this at home. Boo Hiss. :( Don't they know that's what work is for?! Jeez.

Anyway, so I hope all my beautiful mom friends had an awesome Mother's Day. Mine was OK. I've certainly had better. The day started with my waking up to the tune of an upset P1 and an irate DH. They were arguing about breakfast. She wanted eggs. He wanted to give her cereal. Keep in mind, P2 was still asleep, but as loud as they were, I expected to hear little one start wailing any minute. Uggg "Happy Mother's Day to me". P1 came in my room and asked me to make her breakfast. I said "ummm, no, it's MD, go ask daddy." Then she started getting all super-sonic on me and I told her to go ask him nicely.

Nope. Didn't work. I hear more arguing and such. So I get up, walk over there and say I'll cook my own damn breakfast. Nice way to wake mom up on MD morning. Grrrr

We made plans to go meet the inlaws in their town and have a picnic at the park. M's grandma is in a rehab center and she has Alzheimers. She's been living there for a few months now and it's been really hard on the family. Especially for my MIL, who goes to visit her everyday. It's quite sad. Anyway, so my MIL thought it would be a good idea to check GG (great grandma) out of the facility on MD to see the kids.

In theory, it sounded like a decent plan. However, it didn't occur to my MIL that it would be cold that day, that GG would have 'episodes' since this was her first time out of lockdown since she went to live there, and I was already in a mood to begin with (remember breakfast).

Anyway, so we drive the 40 min out there and it's freezing. Colder there than it was at our house when we left. Thankfully I made P1 bring a little jacket, I had a jacket in the car, and I brought a little sweater for P2 along with her blanket. It was windy, drizzly, and just plain cold. LOVELY. We pull up and my FIL is there with a few of the kids. M's sister isn't there, but her two older Js are. My MIL isn't there either, nor is GG. Ummmm, OK, where is everyone.

When we start setting up our stuff, my FIL tells me that my SIL and J3 are at the ER. Earlier in the day he was being pulled up by his arms by the older kids at church. Oh, he's 19mo old. I guess during that time he was playing, his elbow was dislocated. OUCH. So they needed to take Xrays just to be sure that's what the problem was and then they had to put it back where it belongs. OUCH again. Great MD present for her too! They arrive after about 45min and little J3 is fine.

A little later GG and my MIL come and from the minute we see her (gg) things start going downhill. She has started hitting herself while having delusions that someone else is with her and trying to hurt her. It's very sad, but the kids are watching this and trying their best to ignore her. Again, so sad. Then she starts crying, then yelling, then hitting herself. Oh, she's also 80 years old. My MIL and SIL do their best to distract GG and make her aware of what is going on, but sadly she is too out of it.

So the day went on. Thankfully P2 was being a dream baby. She spent most of the time in her stroller because she was bundled up in it. I'd say it was about 60^ out there and she was in shorts, sandals, and sleeveless top. Mom of the year, right here!!! OMG. So ya, she stayed bundled up the best way I could keep her warm.

We ate, chatted, and then GG really started to head south. We hurried up and did gifts and then my MIL decided it was time to take GG back. It took them about 30 min to get her in the car and head on back. It was heartbreaking to watch, but thankfully all the kids (5 of them) didn't catch most of it.

THEN, being outside, my DH and his allergies started acting up. We're on the way home and he said he's taken allergy meds and is real sleepy. OH GREAT. I offer to drive home, but he says he can make it. I keep watching him like a mother hen to see if starts to show the slightest indication of dosing.

Once home, we're bringing in the girls and all of the stuff and my DH disappears. P1 says she's hungry, P2 needs her bottle and bed and DH is nowhere to be found. I walk to our bedroom and he is snoring. It's been like 10 min since we walked into the house!!! So, being the nice wife that I am, flipped on the light and said "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? The kids need food and I need help getting them ready for the week and you're asleep?!?!?" He just looked at me and grinned.

Now, i could have handled that one of two ways. The first, going totally pyscho on him and demanding he get his derrier out of the damn bed ASAP and help...OR, I keep this little gem of a Mother's Day in my back pocket until I REALLY need it...

Yes.

FATHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(the day wasn't a total bust...I did get the sweetest cards from both girls and my DH, and I also got two new charms for my Pandora bracelet. The girls birthstones, which also happen to be mine and DH's too!!)

Birthday Pics... A LOT OF PICS

2010-05-04T16:50:00.001-05:00

Saturday 5-1-10, the Ps and I headed to the mall to have P1's 1st birthday pics taken. My appt was at 5pm and of course Pen decided she wanted to take a late and long afternoon nap that day. It takes about 30min to get to the mall (since there is ALWAYS traffic on the highway, no matter what stinkin' day OR time it is... I digress) so I had to wake her up by 4pm to get her fed, changed, and dressed to head out in 30 min. Dumb, I know. But whatever. I kept waiting for the cake lady (now known as CL) to show up. She was supposed to call in the afternoon to find out how to get to my house so she could drop off the cupcakes for the party on Sunday AND to bring the smash cake for P2's photo session. It was 4pm and I still hadn't heard from her. So as I'm feeding Pen, I called a coworker to see if she had CL's number. OH, CL is a coworker too. Anyway, thankfully she had her number and I called to find out if there was a problem. Umm, ya, she thought the pics were supposed to be at 6pm instead of 5. Luckily, the cupcakes were ready, she just needed to make the drive to my house. Lovely.

After Pen was dressed, I loaded both the girls in the car and headed down to our local McD's to meet the CL so I could quickly get to the mall. She was going to give me the one and then take the rest to the house where DH was waiting for her. Finally we got them, I called the studio and told them we were running late. They said it wouldn't be a problem and they would see me when I got there. We finally make it and we have to wait a little bit, but thankfully both girls are in a great mood.

Finally, it's our turn and Pen is starting to be the little stinker that we know and love. She doesn't want to stay put, she doesn't want to look at the lady, and don't you dare ask her to smile. It's amazing we got any decent pics of little Miss Priss!! After a few clothes changes, it was time to disrobe for the cake smash. Before I go into detail, here are the first of the pics. :)

I DON'T LIKE IT!!!!!!

So now we attempted the cake smash. I placed the pretty little cupcake in front of her and then I let her go!

She grabbed the little frosting off it and then...

Just looked at it...

And looked at it...

Notice this child still has a clean face!!

Finally she got some in her mouth (and eye and hair) and made this sourpus face!

You want me to eat this junk???

No way! I'm outta here!!

That's it! Everytime she would touch her fingers together she would shiver like it was giving her the willies!! It was SOOOO funny!!! Not once did she ever try to bite the cake. I even tried to break off a piece to let her try it, but nope, she wasn't having any part of it!!

So, I don't know who this child belongs to, but she does NOT like cake or frosting!!

Introducing WOOKY!!!

2010-05-04T15:29:00.000-05:00

Isn't he sweet!?!?!

So this is the bday present for two of the May babies in my family; P2 and I!!! He is about 8wks old and he's the sweetest kitty EVER!! I can't tell you how wonderful he is with Pen. He hasn't scratched her or bitten her once. P1 and I haven't fared so well and we have the battle scars to prove it!! He's such a sweet boy though. He is so calm and gentle and very sociable. He is always underfoot and wants to be where the action is. As for getting along with his older relative, Groban (I found out Wooky's grandma is Groban's sister, my bad. I thought Groban was his uncle!)...well Groban seems to be a little freaked out by the little guy. Could be due to the fact that Wooky makes this pathetic little spitting sound that is supposed to be a hiss and G doesn't know what to think of that nonsense! I think, in time, they will be buds. I hope. :)

I have a ton of pics with the girls playing with their new friend, and I will post soon!

Has it almost been a year?

2010-04-30T16:32:00.001-05:00

We're quickly approaching P2's FIRST birthday!! Man, where did the time go??? Seriously, WHERE??? It seems like yesterday I was trying to get pregnant and here we are celebrating the first year with our precious little PenPen. This Sunday, on her actual bday, we're having M's side of the family over for dinner and cake. Since my family is mostly out of state, it will just be a small group. That's OK, I'm sure Mimi will go crazy and buy enough stuff for 100 relatives!! It's always nice having a shopper in the family. ;) I wonder who else I know who loves to shop?!?!? I digress.

Since I'm going to be busy cleaning my house like a mad woman, and getting the party together, I thought I would post the story of P2's birth now. If it makes you feel better, don't read this post until May 2nd, and then it will be EXACTLY one year to the day!!! bwahahahaha :)

Friday 5/1- It was my second day off from work and I had my last Peri appt in the morning. Everything was perfect so I figured I was safe to get some last minute shopping done. I got a little carried away and was gone over 8 hrs! By the time I got home, I was whooped. In the evening, I started having Ctx but nothing too painful. I did notice they were more consistent than normal though. I had been doing laundry and stuff around the house so I figured it was just from me being so active. I did make a list for my hospital bag and P1 was packed to go stay with the ILs so that was done.

Sat 5/2- 3am I had woken up with the urge to use the facilities. Nothing new. Then as I was thinking about getting up, I felt this GUSH. I hopped up out of bed and ran to the bathroom, leaving a trail as I did. I started laughing hysterically and DH thought I had lost it until I told him what had happened. Well, we started running around like crazy. I had an entire day to get ready, this shouldn't have happened!!! I hopped in
the shower and he found the number to L&D. When I was done I called to let them know I was on the way. After throwing everything in a bag (thank goodness I made a list!) DH could not find the video camera charger. Of course. Then the CTX started. OUCH. I told him we needed to go NOW. So off we went. Even though we live like 7min from the hospital, we didn't get there until 4am....still didn't find the charger (my camera takes movies so we were OK). When I got hooked up, Pen's hb was great and I was dialated to a 2-3. YIPPY! Then shortly after I was about a 4-5 and then I asked for the Epi. He came in, did his thing. No problem and I was numb. But when they upped the Pit I felt this odd pain on my right side. My right hip, gut, and lower back just on that side started killing me, and it was happening when a CTX started. I suffered through it for an hour thinking it would go away. Of course it was shift change by then, so I asked the new nurse to call the new Anthes. He came in and just thought I needed more medicine. So more I got. Nope, didn't do anything. It was about 10am and the nurse checked me and said I was at a 7! Yippy. So the Anthes said maybe the cathetir needed to be adjusted, so he pulled it out 1cm. Nope, still pain and it was getting worse (along with the CTX). By this time I was crying through each Ctx. The Anthes came in again and gave me more medicine. It was finally enough to knock me out. I think I slept for an hour and when the dr. came in to check me again, I was still at a 7. It was now after 2pm. Oh, during the 'nap', Pen's hb was dropping after each ctx and I woke up to an O2 mask on me. My OB said she could stretch me to an 8, but it was looking like I would probably need the vacuum to bring Pen out and it could end up being like P1s birth. NO THANKS. So we opted for the C-section, reason being failure to progress.

After being prepped for surgery, Penelope Rose was born with a healthy set of lungs at 3:11pm, weighing 6lbs 3oz and 19in long. She was perfect! Agpars were 9/9. When they told me her weight I said "that's it?!" LOL So much for my big baby! Her head wasn't even that big, but for some reason she was getting hung up on the way out. The surgery was fine, but the shaking. OMG, I couldn't stop shaking. They had some heater hooked to a hose and even then I could not stop shaking. I had to spend a few hours in triage but we never found out why. That first night was a nightmare. They had all kinds of tubes hooked up to me, the foley cath, these blood pressure type compresses on both my legs to prevent blood clots and then the nurse wanted me to sleep on my sides for three hours at a time. The first night was rough. Pen was great though and latched on right away! The nursery said she's tiny but she's tough!

Today is Saturday, she's a week old and I'm still on the pain meds. C's SUCK. I applaud you moms who have had more than one. The hematoma of P1s birth was worse, pain wise, but this C is in a class by itself. Driving home from the hospital, I thought my guts were going to fall out. Then forget about laughing, coughing or sneezing.

Anyway, so that's her birthstory! Oh, the diabetes is gone, Pen was never effected by it, & yesterday at her first Pedi appt, she's back up to her birthweight! She is a little jaundice so we're having to keep her in front of the window and yesterday she needed labs to check her levels. It was OK but we were told to supplement the BFing, which we were already doing.

My milk just came in on Thursday. I'm also suffering from a touch of PPD. I'm already on meds but I see my OB on Monday to have the sutures removed and I might talk to her about something else as I've been super weepy since we brought her home.

In all, we're all adjusting well. DH has been an incredible help, I couldn't ask for a better husband/daddy. P1 is just in love with baby sister and is a HUGE help. I'm so blessed!!!

Three Words!!!!!!!

2010-04-29T10:01:00.000-05:00

Last night, 4-28-10, 4 days shy of her 1st birthday, P2 said three words!!!!!!

Kitty (which she's been kind of saying for a little bit now, but before it was mostly "Keee")
Book (a new one!)
Hi

3 new words in ONE day! I have a feeling she might be a chatty-kathy like her big sister. Lord help us!! ;)

Birthday Preparations & Cake??

2010-04-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

P2's Birthday is on Sunday! I can't believe my little MonChiChi is going to be 1!! It seems like I just had her!

I've been getting things ready at home for the little soiree we're having for her. The "My First Birthday" party supplies have arrived, my friend made her the cutest birthday hat, my other friend made her a special keepsake plate, my other friend is making her birthday cupcakes (the same friend who did P1's Tinkerbell cake!), I've ordered her a pettiskirt for pictures, her chair has arrived (sans cover, apparently it will take three weeks to get here. WTH?!), we got her the kitty (a formal introduction is coming soon!), and now all I need to do is clean my house! Now, since my friend is making her cupcakes, I'm having second thoughts about giving her one since the French Toast Incident. I would hate to have the poor child break out in hives on her birthday! Party foul numero uno right there! Anyway, I'll keep you posted!!

To My Asian follower

2010-04-27T10:37:00.003-05:00

謝謝你寫信給我，但我不明白您的語言。請嘗試寫英語。謝謝！

What, you didn't know I speak Chinese?? Well you don't know me at all, do you??!! KIDDING. :>

Yae for Google translator!

Pen vs Food....food won

2010-04-26T12:06:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning P1 was asking for breakfast.  Normally I don't (read: ever) make her a warm breakfast on the weekdays, so I don't mind cooking something for her and I on the weekends (M doesn't like breakfast. Weirdo!). I had all the ingredients, so I decided to make french toast.

Wheat bread, eggs, milk, cinnamon, and a splash of vanilla.  That's it.

Since Pen was up, and she was munching on some breakfast puffs, I decided I would give her a peice and see if she liked it. No syrup or butter was added to it, just the ingredients above.  Now, I know babies aren't supposed to have milk or eggs until their first birthday, but since we're a week out (GASP!) I didn't think there would be any harm in trying it.

Wrong. She ate maybe like 5 pcs and decided she didn't like it. OK, no problem. I gave her some banana and she was OK. Well, about 10min later she started coughing and then proceded to throw up her banana and puffs. She was so upset and I figured she just wanted her am bottle. We went and sat on the couch and she was just crying and crying, even though she was still trying to take down her bottle. She finally had tired herself out so much that she fell asleep. TOTALLY UNLIKE her in the morning. So I'm holding her and while she's sleeping I notice what look like bite marks on her face. Odd. Then her cheeks end up getting redder and redder. Oh, M had gone to the doctor because he has been sick for a week, so it was just me and the girls.

Finally Pen wakes up after about 20min, and finishes the rest of her bottle. When I pull her away to look at her, I see she's COVERED in welts, bumps, etc ALL over her body. I slightly freak out and I'm waiting to see if she starts having trouble breathing. I had my phone ready to call 911 if she suddenly started having a difficult time. THANK GOD she was happy at this point, despite looking awful.

Since we have Zyrtec in the house, I gave her a dose and snapped a few pics.

These pics were the beginning of what it started to look like. It got much worse, and the top half of her ended up looking like a bad sunburn, while the bottom of her was all red bumps and welts. It was awful looking and I felt HORRIBLE for giving her those foods. Again, thankfully she wasn't acting funny.

I'm so thankful the medicine started doing its job, and I'd say about 40 minutes later she was about 98% rash free. It was SOOOOO scary. Now I know when I do try to introduce those foods again, I will need to do them one at a time (BAD mommy, I KNOW this, yet didn't...BAD MOMMY) and see where the allergy originated from.

I'm happy to report that the rest of the weekend she was fine and only had some reddening around her diaper area that was cleared up with some cream. Poor baby. No more french toast for PenPen.

That was quick

2010-04-20T15:48:00.000-05:00

Not a minute after I posted the last entry on here did I get a call from the sleep center. Apparently I DO NOT have obstructive sleep apnea. YIPPY. So that means it's my bed, husband, weight, mattress etc that is to blame for my awful sleeping patterns. I could have told you that. ;) Thank goodness I don't have to repeat it again!

Sleep study minus the sleep

2010-04-20T15:39:00.000-05:00

I had my sleep study done on Sunday night. Notice today is now Tuesday. Why didn't I blog about this on Monday? Take a wild guess. Yep, TOO sleepy. I now think the phrase "Sleep Study" is an oxy-moron. There was ZERO sleeping during my sleep study.

I arrived at 8:30pm for my appt. I went shopping earlier in the day and did some other errands so I made sure I was pretty worn out by the time I got there. Once checked in, I was shown to my room.

Then I was told to get in my nightclothes and use the facilities. It was then that I noticed all of these lovely things hanging on the back of the door.

Once I was decent, the tech came in and proceded to put aforementioned lovely things all over me. My head (in my hair). My neck. My face. Both legs. My chest. I would post a pic of that too, but I don't want to scare you all (I look AWFUL, I mean, really really bad!!). There were four sensors on my head to measure brain activity. One near my eye to detect REM sleep. One under my nose to detect whether or not I stop breathing. One of my throat to detect the vibration caused by snoring. One of my jawline to detect teeth grinding. The two on my legs to detect if I have restless leg syndrome (I guess), and then two on my chest to detect heartrate.

Afterwards the tech got me situated in bed, I tried to get comfy. That's when the fun part started. Can we say UNCOMFORTABLE?!?! Besides behind hooked up with a million wires stuck to me, I had one of those oxygen detectors on my index finger and it was starting to bother me and it hadn't even been 10 minutes in!!

I tried to watch TV and even though they had cable (which we don't at home. I KNOW, I can't believe it either), I couldn't find anything to watch. I played Bejeweled on my phone for a bit, and the newly discovered game Bookworm. I even updated my FB status. Since I didn't want them to have to tell me to go to sleep, I turned off the TV and (re)read the book I brought (Eclipse!) Once I started getting sleepy, I turned off the light and just laid there. Now, I'm not a back sleeper. I like to sleep on my sides. Everytime I tried to roll over, I would feel this tug from one of the wires, so I would roll back to where I was. I think this happened most of the night.

Roll.

Tug.

Roll.

Tug.

Did I mention there was a man snoring so loudly across the hall?!?!? OMG, I wanted to smother him with a pillow and I would have had I been able to untangle myself from the prison wires!

Wouldn't you know it, after a while nature started calling so I had to alert the tech of my need to pee. I had to turn on the nightlight and sit on the edge of the bed. Sounds easy enough, right?! Well, this nightlight had one of those slide thingamabobs to turn on and off. I couldn't get the damn thing on. Turning it off was OK, but trying to turn it back on was a PITA. So after fiddling with the darn thing for a minute, I finally got it. So as I attempt to hoist myself to the edge of the bed, I'm met with my familiar problem. Roll. Tug. Tug. Pull. etc... Ummm, HELP. I managed to get my legs on the side of the bed and my torso was halfway upright. That's as far as I could move without really unhooking something. I'm sure I was a pretty sight and I hope I gave the gals a nice little chuckle while they're watching me flop around like a fish. Finally she came in and rescued me.

Once back in bed, I think I finally fell asleep after laying there for about 45min. Then I woke up and I think I was in and out of sleep for the next 6hrs. I kept waking up. ALL NIGHT LONG.

So, in a nutshell, they needed at least 3 (or maybe it was 6) hours of sleep to reach a conclusion, and I think I may have provided them an hour. YIPPY. Then, I was left with these marks on Monday. A keepsake of the experience.

I will know the outcome in a week. I'll keep you posted!

Krazy Kar= Whiz Wheel= BEST TOY EVER...Yes, I mean EVER!!

2010-04-14T12:16:00.003-05:00

I was young, one of my most favorite childhood toys was my Whiz Wheel. Orange, plastic, and out of this world LOADS of fun!!!!!!!! Our backyard in Sacramento had two covered concrete areas for me to ride in since our streets didn't have sidewalks. I would spend HOURS (or what seemed like hours to a kid!) back there riding this thing.

The toy: As I said, it was orange and had two arm pedals. Your feet sat in a little cubby staight on in front of you. You sat low to the ground. I believe it had three wheels. Once you started pedaling with your arms, you could REALLY get that thing moving!! Once you were out of concrete, you could brake hard and spin out!! It was AWESOME!!!!!!!! You could also get it spinning in 360^ circles and what kid doesn't like to get dizzy!?!? I'm telling you, this toy is thee ride-on toy of ALL toys!! This toy makes Big Wheels, Power Wheels, or any type of other Wheels you can think of CRY!!!!!! LOVE IT!!!!

Here is a pic of said toy, now called the Krazy Kar (whatev...I like Whiz Wheel better!). I'm SOOOOO getting one of these for Pen. It's been my goal for over 20 years to find one of these things and the time has come!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Getting ready Penelope (and probably Piper too...I wonder if I should buy two?!?!)

Also, here is another moms blog post of the awesome, incredible toy as she recalls when she was a kid in the late 70s, early 80s!!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2010-04-14T09:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my anniversary. 8 great years!!! I came home to M fixing dinner. It was just an ordinary dinner for our family, until he made the comment that it's the same meal (more or less) that we ate at our reception. Cue the "awwwwsss". Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! That was very sweet and thoughtful of him!

We decided not to exchange gifts this year, instead we're going out on Saturday and will probably do a nice restaurant. We'll try to get a sitter, but if not, we'll be taking the girl-rillas with us. It's OK. Last year we took P1 with us to Trulucks. In fact, most anniversary dinners have been spent as a family of three, and we're OK with that. Since I was pg with P1 when we got married (calm down, it wasn't a 'shotgun' wedding!), we've always looked at it like a union of our family more than a union between husband and wife. Does that make any sense at all?! LOL Anywho....so I'll let you know what we decide to do!

Here are a few pics from the blessed day! Isn't my hubby TOTALLY HOT?!??!?! heehee

April 13, 2002

See the purple napkins with the purple butterflies?!

Amongst the Eucalyptus trees in beautiful Santa Barbara Cty, CA

Groban, Your Sister is a Hussy

2010-04-13T16:18:00.000-05:00

So your father and I have to take in one of her kids...

The question is, which one do we choose?!?!

I've made the executive decision that I need another cat. My birthday is at the end of next month, and it's been almost a year since Tweakie disappeared, so I've been thinking another kitten would be a nice addition to our family. These happen to be Groban's neice and nephews, so I like that fact that they are related. I'll keep you posted! They won't be weaned for a few weeks still, so as I get more photos, I will post them!! I want to keep them all, but I'm afraid M would keep the cats and get rid of ME!!! :)

Beanpole

2010-04-12T20:31:00.000-05:00

This pic shows what I mean by the word "beanpole". I think my little miss is going to be all legs! Thank goodness she doesn't take after her mama!!!

Somebody Stop Me!

2010-03-31T13:56:00.000-05:00

I can't help it that retailers stock their shelves with these little guys around spring time.

I think this makes 7.

The Almost Easter Bunny Pic

2010-03-31T11:51:00.001-05:00

After taking the girls to have their Easter pics taken, I thought it would be a good idea to go over and have the girls pic taken with the Easter bunny. In years past (with just P1) it's been something I would do if I was in the area. I figured it was P2's first Easter I better preserve the memory and get her pic with the rabbit.

As we walked to that area of the mall, I expected there to be a long line. It surprised me to see that only a few people were in line. It was, afterall, the last Sunday before Easter, so I thought everyone and their mama would be in line. Nope. Not even close. In fact, as we got a little closer and got in line, a few people ahead of us stepped out of line. Not a good sign. We're waiting, and once we get to the front, a girl comes over with some sample photos and starts giving me the schpeal. "You can get this sheet and this sheet, OR this sheet and this sheet OR....". I asked how much they were a sheet. She happily exclaimed "$24.99". I think my jaw dropped at this point. I said "Per Sheet???". Yes, a sheet. Holy BUNNY SHEET! That's grand larceny right there. Now I've paid for some over-priced Santa pictures during my mommy-dom, but $24.99 for one stinking sheet with a sad white rabbit?!?!? Ummm, NO.

I politely told the girl we were just going to visit the bunny (code for: You're on crack if you think I'm paying $24.99 a sheet!!). :) Meanwhile, I tell P1 that I'm going to attempt to take a pic with my phone and to be looking at me and smiling when I walk back up to them to pick up P2! (While trying to keep it on the DL because I see the sign that says to refrain from taking personal pics without a minimum purchase blah blah. YA RIGHT!!) So I sit both of them down, and oddly enough, when you're not smiling for the camera and trying to coerce smiles from children, there isn't a whole lot going on there. There isn't much to say to a bunny, and he has less to say back! So they just sat there. AWKWARD! hahaha After what seemed like an eternity, I grab my phone and slowly walk up to get P2. In my feable attempt to be sneaky.....

I present to you....

P2's first visit with the Easter Bunny....

HAHAHAAHHAAHHA I've got proof she saw the Bunny.

$24.99 a sheet my a$$!!!!!!

Comments

2010-03-30T11:09:00.000-05:00

I think I've fixed the comment problem on here! Please leave me a message to test it!! THANKS!

NEW Stephenie Meyer Vampire Book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-30T10:55:00.000-05:00

Today is like CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stephenie Meyer, AKA Twilight Goddess has just announced on her site, that she's released a 200 page novella based on a character from Eclipse. It's called The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner and it's coming out on June 5th!!!!!!! 25 days before Eclipse the movie will be released!! Awesome awesome awesome!!!

THANK YOU STEPHENIE!!!!! Your fans have been waiting for something new from you for a while!!!!!!!!!!

Easter Approaching

2010-03-30T10:13:00.000-05:00

Easter is always a fun time at our house. Not only do we celebrate the resurrection of Christ with a wonderful feast, we decorate eggs, make a special dessert for Mimi's house (last year it was fancy decorated cupcakes), deviled eggs galore, gorgeous spring weather (hopefully!) and just lots of fun with the extended family. I tend to take a million pics of the kiddos and love when they are all dressed up! Here's a tip! Easter is the perfect time to take pics for moms/grandma's Mother's Day presents!!

Since this is Pen's first Easter, I had to go out and find a special basket. Since she was about 3mo old, I've been buying little stuffed lambs for her. It started with one and now she has about 5 of them. Now whenever I see a cute stuffed lamb, I buy it for her. Well, almost. Right now our grocery store has one for Easter and it's HUGE!! Almost life size! I've thought about it....hahahaha Anyway, as I was saying, lambs. When I was at Hobby Lobby, I found the cutest basket and guess what it has attached to it?! That's right! A lamb! I couldn't resist. For her basket, Pen's getting a new pair of sandals, a new sippy cup, a Carter's plush bunny (gasp!) some plastic eggs filled with yogurt melts and a few new sets of PJs. Piper is getting two new pairs of flip-flops, a bathing suit, The Princess and the Frog DVD, a new outfit, plastic eggs filled with money and some candy. When I was a kid, my Easter bunny would put money in my eggs and I thought that was the coolest!! The tradition continues! Thanks Mom! ;)

One thing I always do is have pictures taken of the girl, now girls, for Easter!! I was able to find and purchase matching dresses for them! That sounds pretty easy, but finding matching dresses in a size 12mo and a size 8 is EXTREMELY difficult. That's why when I found them, I HAD to buy them. Now black wouldn't be my first choice for an Easter dress, but I'm actually pretty pleased with how these turned out!! It doesn't hurt that I have the two most beautiful kiddos around. ;)

I love how P2 is standing on her tippy toes here.

See it below! It's Lamby the fourth. :)

This is P2's new silly face. She knows we crack up when she does it, so it's now a habit!

I LOVE this one. The expression is so sweet!

This is one of my faves too!

These were taken on Sat after I got the dresses in the mail. They tried them on and I snapped a few pics!

Happy Girls!

My BIG FAT POSITIVE!!!

2010-03-30T10:12:00.000-05:00

Since I didn't want to forget about this day (thanks Jess!), I'm going to post what I posted on a message board the day I found out I was pregnant with Pen. The day was Wednesday, 9/3/08 and after 11months of trying to conceive, and one day before our appt with a specialist, I finally got a positive pregnancy test!!! For the record, she was conceived on the weekend of 8/22/08 and here is what followed!!! :)

I'm sick today though, actually have been sick over the weekend. Sore throat, low grade fever, tired...so I came home early today. Before I came home, I had to swing by the OB to pick up my paperwork to take to the RE tomorrow. So once I got that, I decided to stop at the drug store and buy some medicine, cough drops and a Preg test since I was out. I WAS on a break.......

So much for my break!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it!!!!! It took less than one minute for this thing to blare the word PREGNANT at me!! If I hadn't already peed, I would have peed my pants!! I was shaking!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know if you can tell, but P's shirt says "Big Sister". The balloons are for DH. He doesn't know yet and we're waiting til he comes home!!!!!! OMG, I still can't believe it.

Shaking, the first thing I did was text my friend Amy to tell her the news since we'd been trying to get preggo for what seemed like FOREVER! I sent her the pic and I think she was as shocked as I was! Then I tried calling my mom. I tried her cell. No luck. Her home. No luck. The cell again. And again. And again. I kept getting voicemail and I didn't want to tell her in a message. So I asked her to call me back. When she finally did, I played it calm. "Hey Mom, how are you doing?" "Pretty good, how are you?" "I'M PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" We both laughed! It was GREAT!!!! Then I went and bought the balloons for M. I wanted something to put on the porch to announce the pregnancy! I had bought P1 a shirt that read "Big Sister" on it and she was quickly outgrowing it so against my better judgment, I shared the news with her when I picked her up from school! I wanted her to wear the shirt when daddy came home!! When he walked in, the first thing she said was "Daddy, Look at my shirt! I'm going to be a big sister!!!". He looked at me and said "Really?!" and I said yep!! It was a beautiful moment!!!! The rest is history and I'm so blessed to have another baby girl to add to my collection!!!

Snotty, Barfy, and Froggy.

2010-03-23T17:13:00.000-05:00

BARFY

I'm running on little sleep. It's almost 4pm and I'm fighting to stay awake. Yesterday I came home to find a lethargic P1 lying on the couch, rosy cheeks, and a grump look on her face. I ask what's the problem and she says "I'm Sick." Ummmm, OK, care to elaborate for me?? M told me she had thrown up three times already.

Now, first you must know. P1 has vomitting issues. She's had it for a few years now. Fine one second, barfing the next. No rhyme or reason. Can't figure it out to save our lives. We've taken her to see Pedi-GI doctors, she's had a scope down her throat (the proper name escapes me!) and she's had a Ph-Probe done to check for acid levels in her tummy. She's had CAT scans, ultrasounds, and EKGs and all come back normal. She was diagnosed with slight reflux, which was a shock because she NEVER had reflux as a baby. We were instructed to put her on Nexium powder, once a day for a few months and we did. It seemed to help, but the doctors agreed she couldn't be on it forever. After a while (much longer than the dr. recommended), we weaned her off of it. The vomitting never ceased entirely, but now it's becoming the rule rather than the exception. Since I'm horrible at keeping notes about it, I'm going to use my blog as a way to record her episodes from now on. I apologize in advance. :)

So, this makes episode #2 for March. She did throw up last week at the gparents house. She ate nothing unusual there.

Yesterday, she did have her normal lunch, but she did start the morning off with some kind of cereal bar that her friend gave her. It sounded like it was full of sugar, but that's about it. The vomitting didn't start until later in the evening, so I doubt there is a connection there.

Poor thing was up and down all night. She sleeps with a bowl at night in case she can't make it to the restroom in time. She's got pretty good aim. lol I ended up sleeping next to her on the couch to keep her company since she didn't want to sleep in her room.

I got little sleep.

SNOTTY

Then P2 woke up yesterday morning with a snotty nose. I mean, REALLY snotty. She wasn't running a fever, so I took her to school anyway. She seemed OK once we got there. Then last night she started running a low-grade fever and coughing. She woke herself up several times last night, but thankfully she lulled herself back to sleep.

FROGGY

On Sunday night, M started complaining about feeling congested. Then yesterday complained about it again and really thought he was starting to come down with something. This morning, when he was coming home from work so I could come in for a few hours, I noticed he sounds awful. Like he has a frog in his throat!! He says he feels ok, just sounds horrible!

Good Lord...the cat and I are the only ones not sick at home. Wish us luck! Knock on wood.

Hello Blog. Long time, no see.

2010-03-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've been neglecting my blog lately. Not for lack of anything to write about, I assure you. In fact, I have a million posts in my head but haven't had the time to get them out. Here is an attempt. If this seems a little erratic and all over the place, welcome to my world/brain.

Lets go back to the week of March 1st. M's grandma has Alzheimers for about 6yrs now. Perhaps longer. She's 80.   But she's been living with the inlaws for a few years now. They built her a beautiful addition to their home and gave her her own space to live.  A place where she could still have some privacy and independence, but still in close proximity to the family where they could keep an eye on her. My inlaws both work and 24/7 care was not possible...so after a few 'episodes' of GG (what we call her) "seeing an intruder" in the mirror (herself) and climbing up on the furniture to cover the mirrors with sheets and threatening to take her own life one too many times, the family had been thinking it was time to see about putting her in a 'home'. Well, one afternoon my MIL was called at work from the local police station who had been notified of an elderly woman, with a purse, walking down the street obviously confused and far from home. Apparently GG had had enough and left with her purse, going to who knows where. Thank God the weather was nice and she stayed on the road where someone was able to see her. I shudder to think of the alternative. Anyway, so that weekend they took GG to the long-term care facility. It's been hard on the family, but we know it's for the best. On Saturday, we took the girls out to see her and she seemed to be doing OK. I think she recognized us, but it's hard to say. Sometimes she's with it, and other times she seems really confused and lost. It's a horrible disease and I hope a cure is found in my lifetime.

The next thing on our plate was Amy and the Twinks visit! After two years of being online friends, we finally got to meet and introduce our families. It was a great weekend, and I'll have to post the pics and talk more about it...but I'll have to do that another time, or more specifically when I'm at home.

So moving on. Last week.
Spring Break.

My MIL offers to watch P1 all week. I take her out to where they live on Monday afternoon. I must preface and say my MIL is a great grandma and loves to spoil her grandkids ROTTEN. I'm very thankful that she's so attentive to them and LOVES to have them stay over every chance they get. I know some people don't have family close to help entertain the kiddos, and some people who do have family close but they choose to have little or no contact with their grandkids. It's sad, but I know there are a lot of people out there like that. I'm VERY grateful that M's parents are nearby and attentive to their grandkids. SO.... that brings me to tell you about M's sister and her family. She's a good person, she really is, at heart. But not the brightest crayon in the box, if you ask me. So her daughter, J1 and P1 are not only cousins, but best friends. I'm happy they are so close and love each other very much. They are two years apart in age. So naturally, when P1 goes to her gparents house, J1 is always over there too.

Well, from what I gather, J1 had been scratching at her head for a while. So much that my SIL kept getting after her thinking it was some kind of nervous habit. Instead of thinking 'why does my child keep scratching her head like a maniac' and check her head, she ignored it. Well, on Thursday, while at the zoo, my MIL saw J1 scratching and decided to check her head. Yep, LICE. Full of it. (makes my skin crawl just thinking about it). After some checking, my SIL's family of 5 all has it. My inlaws, and yep, P1. LOVELY. Freakin LOVELY. Do they call us on Thursday to let us know about it? Nope. They call us on Saturday when we're on our way out there to pick her up and to visit them at their house. WTF?!?! REALLY?!?! So now because of my SIL's stupidity (OH, and it's not the first time she's dealt with the critters on her kiddos before!!!!), I have to deal with the mess, and try to keep the bugs out of our house & heads. LOVELY. Sense my fustration??   She did treat P1 with the bug stuff and said she 'thought' she got most of the eggs out. My poor baby, in her most pathetic little voice, asked my MIL, "Am I going to die?". Poor thing!! Obviously, we've never had the need to discuss lice in our home prior to this.

My MIL decides it's best not to come over to her house (ya think?!?!) so we meet at GG's facility and try to avoid contact. Once we get home, I take everything of P1's and wash it in SUPER hot water and dry it a few times, hoping to kill anything living in there. I changed sheets and pillowcases and checked P1's head several times yesterday just to make sure.  I debated calling the school this morning, but from the looks of it, she appears to be lice-free. I hope my SIL had the sense to keep her kids out of school, but $5 says they are there right now.  Grrrrrr. Thankfully our kids don't attend the same school.   What makes me so mad is that they didn't call and at least give us the heads up on the lice! (pun intended!). Geez.

So that was pretty much the month of March in a nutshell. Oh, M and I did see MUSE on St. Paddy's day and it was an AWESOME show!!!! Matthew Bellamy, you're my hero!!! All the guys did great and are VERY talented musicians...but Matthew, your vocals are amazing. How you can sound exactly the same live as you do on your CDs is amazing.   Not to mention you're an awesome guitarrist. Completely effortless. Seriously, if you like rock music, with a little Queen-esque edge and pop tones thrown in for good measure, GO SEE MUSE!!! You won't be disappointed. Seriously one of the most under-appreciated bands out there today. I have a few of their songs on here...take a listen!! :)

Pic Post of P2

2010-03-08T10:27:00.000-06:00

Say that five times fast.

Here are the much anticipated pics of Pen at 9.5months! OK, so I'm the only one who really anticipated their arrival, but nonetheless here they are!!! :)

Who Has the Cutest Babies??? Umm, that would be ME!! bwahaha

Pen is 10 months old!!!!

2010-03-02T23:31:00.000-06:00

Please tell me how this happened so fast?! I can't believe she's in double digit months now!! That's insane to me! P1's first year went by fast, but P2's is 50% faster!! I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that she will be one year in two short months. That just doesn't seem possible. I JUST HAD HER!!

So at 10mo, my sweet girl is very smart! She can do the sign for "more", wave bye-bye, give us "five", is cruising and crawling like a mad woman, can make kissy sounds with her lips, thinks it's funny to throw her cup/bottle when she's done with it, lights up with a huge grin when she sees her big sister, doesn't stay down when I'm trying to change her diaper, loves to play peek-a-boo and sing the itsy-bitsy spider, she can say mamamama, dadadada, lalalalalala, buhbuh (she does this while waving), and all kinds of other random noises, she is trying to make the 'meow' sound when I ask her what does the kitty say, she loves to be tickled and cuddled, loves peas, mum-mums, apples, pears, sweet potatoes, yogurt melts, rice, and ground beef. :)

I love you PenPen. Happy 10 months my precious Sweet Pea!!

Jake What is Wrong with You??

2010-03-02T12:55:00.000-06:00

I'm sure if you look at the bottom of her foot it will say "Russ".

Piper-isms

2010-03-02T11:18:00.000-06:00

More crazy things the 7yo has come up with in her little life that crack us up! Some are from when she was around 2-3, but I'm blogging so I don't forget them as she, and I, get older. Mommy loves you Pipy!!

Cold Snog= Cole Slaw
BuzzOnYa= Lasagna
Stooge= Stew
TandyTane= Candy Cane
TalkUhDieDull= Crocodile
TocaTola= Coca Cola
UmmRella= Umbrella
No No= any type of bug
There It Is= The first name of her favorite blankey
Old Boddy Boddy= The second name of the same blankey!
Rella=Cinderella
Enchilala= Enchilada

I'm corrupting her: This year she wanted some Twilight Sweethearts for Valentine's Day to give out to her friends. I bought them. They didn't have pictures on the packs, just Twi sayings on the candy. She came home on the Monday before the party and said "Mom, do you think it's appropriate for me to take Twilight stuff to school? I'm only in the first grade!". I asked her who said that and she said nobody. I told her "it's JUST CANDY and if someone from the school has a problem with it they can call your mom!!!!!" bwahahahaha

Sweet Layla Grace

2010-03-01T12:14:00.001-06:00

This is Layla Grace.

Isn't she beautiful?? Right now she is fighting a battle agaist Neuroblastoma. Cancer. She is all of 2. Sadly, she is losing her battle. The doctors have told her parents that she has a few weeks, but like the fighter that she is, that was weeks ago. Like her mom says, Layla doesn't follow the textbooks, and right now she is still in the care of her parents. Surrounded by their love, as well as the love of her two older sisters and thousands of others. Most of which are strangers, like myself, who find themselves drawn to their story. Praying for their baby. Praying for a miracle. Praying for peace against this cancer that is destroying her tiny body. It's awful. No child should ever have to live with this, or die from this.

Thanks to Layla & her family, I squeeze my girls a little tighter. I hug much longer. I make memories of the way P1 crinkles up her nose when she laughs, or the way P2 stretches out her little chubby legs in the morning. Their screams and hollers have become music in my house. Each new day is a celebration that I thank God for everyday I have with them. Both Layla and Shanna (her mom) have inspired me to be a better mom. Thank you, sweet Layla.

Ouch

2010-03-01T11:55:00.000-06:00

I tweaked my back this weekend. In preparation for our upcoming visitors (Amy and the Twinks! And J too. It's just more fun to call them "Amy and the Twinks" cuz it's kinda like Alvin and the Chipmunks...I digress.) So, as I was saying- visitors are coming and I'm trying to make my house somewhat presentable! No, my house isn't a sty and I won't be featured on the show Hoarders (yet!), but we just have a lot of stuff. We're trying to purge a lot of it and I'm thankful the goodwill van will be in the neighborhood two days before AandTs come to visit! P1's room was a nightmare and since my guests will be bunking in her room, I figured it was only polite to pick up all the Barbie shoes, My Little Ponys, puzzle pieces, etc etc off the floor!! 5 garbage bags full of items to toss, donate, and resale came out of that room yesterday and it's still not done!! I'm saving the clothes for last. And man she's got the clothes.

My weekend was also full of cleaning the kitchen, the living room, and I'm starting to organize my craft corner. For Xmas, M's big gift to me was to build & put up some shelves in our bedroom for my stuff. Yes, the calendar does say MARCH 1st and he's just now getting to it. I guess I will cut him some slack since he did have back surgery right before Christmas. Hmmppphhh. heehee While P1 and I were organizing all of my junk, M was outside cutting, painting, and finishing my shelves!! YAE!!!! I can't wait to post pics of the "After". Trust me, you don't want to see the "Before". For those of you that saw what P2's room looked like before it became the beautiful nursery that it is now- Ya, it's like that, only a much smaller version. Shudder.

I'm really hoping my back gets better so I can get the stuff done that I need to before next weekend!!

Blogger's Guilt?

2010-02-25T12:10:00.000-06:00

There is a lot of tragedy out there in blogland. So much that I sometimes feel guilty posting about my mundane life. In fact, I'm scared to comment on the normalcy of my life, for fear that I will somehow 'jinx' myself and find tragedy 24hrs from now.

That can still happen. Tomorrow isn't a given. It happens to anyone at anytime, and a lot of bloggers out there are dealing with life cut short, or life altered in such a way that I can only imagine.

The blogs that touch me the most are those that deal with children. Being a mom changes you and the protective "Mama Bear" instinct comes out, whether it's your child or not. Plus, being in that stage of my life, it's who I am and what I can relate to the most. It's easy to feel empathy for those that are suffering where children are concerned.

I don't go searching for these blogs. They are friends. Or friend of friend of friends. They are linked with net searches for everyday life questions. For example, I was looking for a "how-to" on royal icing, and came upon a blog about two siblings needing organ transplants. WTH?!?! Of course I read it and was touched immensely by this family's on-going journey to save their little ones. It's heartbreaking, and yes, I don't have to read them, but I do. I think I owe it to the children, to their parents, to read it if I stumble upon it. If my reading it makes the loss/illness of their child less in vain, perhaps by educating myself, than so be it. If makes me hug my children a little tighter. To appreciate my family that much more. To offer my prayers.

Still, I can't help but feel like my blog isn't worthy of your time because I'm not suffering some tragic event. I pray that I never have to blog about stuff like that. I'm sure those same moms would rather blog about the mundane, so-so existence of their lives. I'm sure they would trade their entries with mine (or anyone elses) anytime, to get back the child that they lost, or to cure their sick baby. I mean, who wouldn't?

Well, it's taken me forever to even post this. Still worried about jinxing myself.

I guess life is all about risks. So here goes nothing. I love my family & friends. That's all one can do, right?

I'm Still Here

2010-02-18T15:13:00.000-06:00

I've been a busy bee lately. No excuse, just saying. In my line of work, Spring is our "Christmas" so it's a happenin' time for us.

I've also been getting a ton of orders for my Flower Clippies and I couldn't be happier! I know M is too, because it means my supply of crafty shtuff is gradually leaving the premises! I've decided I'm going to take my earnings and buy myself a new camera. Some people spend their money on jewelry, Coach bags, Prada shoes, etc... I spend mine on cameras. Currently, I have three. I love taking pictures. Always have, since I was a kid with my polaroid camera. I would line up my Cabbage Patch Kids against different backdrops and take their pictures. So that's what I'm working towards. It's good to have a goal. :) Meanwhile, please become a fan of The Pampered Pea on Facebook and support my addiction! :)

Happy Valentine's Day; What a weekend!

2010-02-14T21:56:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a great day with their Sweethearts. My day was almost like any other Sunday, but still nice to be with my sweeties. All three of them!

On Saturday, P1 made me breakfast in bed. It was an interesting breakfast, to say the least! The menu consisted of Gold Fish Crackers, Yogurt, applesauce, blueberries, pepperoni and a Sprite Zero! All items she could find in the fridge/pantry that she could reach and that she could make. She even made me a little card. :) Love that little girl.

While she and I was munching on my breakfast, her sister started crying and she went to go get her for me. When she brought P2 back, she was a mess. There was a big dried pile of snot crusted to her nose, her hair looked like she had something in it, and I noticed she smelled really sour. It quickly became apparent to me that she had vomited on herself. I took her from P1 and walked back to her room to change her and that's when I saw the mess. All over her bed was semi-dried vomit which looked like Friday's lunch and dinner. :( A lovely mix of blueberries, apples, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. Yummmm Yum. I'm SOOO thankful to God that she didn't choke in her sleep from this. It upset me that she didn't cry enough to wake us up, if at all, and she ended up sleeping in it. Poor baby. I felt so bad for her. She was running a slight fever and after she got a bath, she got some Tylenol and she slept for a good while in the morning. I kept her meals light to repeat a second episode, but she's been doing fine ever since.

Back tracking a bit, Thursday and Friday we had a major snow storm. It broke all kinds of records here since it NEVER snows more than maybe an inch or two a year here. I think when all was said and done, we got something like 11in. Insane!! Needless to say, school was closed on Friday so it meant I got a three day weekend with my girls! SWEET!!! As I type this, we still have snow outside. On Thursday we all got to play in the snow for a bit. M and P1 made a HUGE snowman, and P2 got to see & feel the snow falling on her and she just had this look like 'what is THIS?!' It was fun, but so cold!

So now it's Sunday and most of the day was spent preparing for the week. My wonderful husband & girls surprised me with two clips and a charm for my Pandora bracelet! He also made us a scrumptious dinner of snow crab legs, shrimp, red potatoes, corn, and garlic cheese bread!!

Melody, my cat

2010-02-08T22:15:00.000-06:00

I know I blogged about when my beloved Melody vanished shortly after P2 was born, but I can't remember if I posted pics of her or not. When I was looking through some photos here on my laptop, I ran across what I'm pretty sure are the last pics I ever took of her. Keep in mind, she had always been an indoor cat and these photos were obviously taken outside. The second to last time she ran away from home, I was in the back taking pics of P1 and around the corner came Simmy! Since I had my camera handy, I couldn't resist. I'm so thankful now that I have these last few pics of her. I miss you, Sim Cat.

This is Groban, P1's Brat Cat. You can tell by this pic that he's just rotten!

Just call me Martha

2010-02-08T21:49:00.000-06:00

For as long as I can remember, I've always been into crafts and making unique, personalized gifts for people. When I married and had my first daughter, that crafty gene grew more intense and I found myself living at Michaels and making anything I could get my hands on.

Besides my love of photography & scrapbooking, making custom invitations & holiday/greeting cards, I also make diaper cakes and more! I have a fan page on FB! Please become a fan of The Pampered Pea!

I've been asked here recently (shoutout, Kari!) where I get P2's bows/headbands. Well, I make them. The bows anyway. I buy the headbands and make the flowers seperately so you can mix & match. The pics in my previous post show P2 wearing a purple flower and a pink flower. I made both of them. I haven't had a chance to get more supplies, but my next collection is going to be something special! Now with Spring approaching, there should be a plethora o' colors at my disposal!

Here are a few of my recent creations (PS, I do take orders! They are $6 for the flower and the headband together and I ship for FREE!)

Picture Post!

2010-02-07T22:28:00.000-06:00

Just because mommy loves her girls!

Busy weekend & Awesome news X 3!!!

2010-02-07T21:41:00.001-06:00

The weekend started off GREAT!!!! I came into work on Friday and found two long stem red roses on my desk! That made my morning since I LOVE roses! They were leftover from media kits that the Marketing Dept sent out, but still...free roses are free roses! :)  Flowers always make me happy.

Around 2pm that day, I got a call from my wonderful husband who informed me that
HE GOT THE PROMOTION!!!!!!!!!!!
A while back he interviewed for another position and oddly enough, we were hoping he WOULDN'T get that position (which he didn't) but it did set the ball rolling for the promotion that he DID get!!! After 8yrs of service with this company, I know he feels a sense of recognition & praise for it. He FINALLY made it into management!!!! Along with it, it comes with a personal use vehicle AND a 16% raise. It's a blessing, let me tell you. With the economy like it is and with another child in daycare, it's been pretty tight at our house. Now I think we will have a little wiggle room. Here's hoping anyway!

We're all so proud of him and all that he's accomplished! I'm going to host a little soiree for him soon! Can't wait!!

That was great news #1. Now great news #2....
AMY and the Twinks (and J too) are COMING TO TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!
I've 'known' Amy online for two years now. We were trying to conceive at the same time and had our share of disappoint month after month while waiting for our little miracles. She helped me realize that I wasn't alone through it all and I knew I could always count on her to cheer me up and keep me positive for the next month. It was only fitting that we found out we were pregnant exactly one month apart from each other. I was due in May '09 and she was due in June '09. Amy, being the over-achiever that she is, had to out-baby me and get preggers with TWINS!!! During my struggles with a complicated pregnancy, she also had some complications (requiring bedrest and hospital lockdown) and I think that brought us closer too. Well last spring, in true Amy fashion, she had her twinkies early in April and I had P2 at the beginning of May.  It's funny that our girls are only 6 days apart.  Coming up next month, we will be able to finally meet and introduce our girls to each other! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!

Yesterday we had my SIL's 30th Bday party.  I ended up making the invites and then here is my wild hair banner that I made for her the night before/day of the party!

Here are some more pics from the party! It was a beautiful crisp February day!

The kiddos

a P & a J

P2 got to sit in a highchair for the first time at a restaurant!

The 3rd great news is that Pen is FINALLY crawling the RIGHT way now!!! She's been army crawling for a few weeks now, but today she finally figured out how to get the legs and the arms working at the same time!! I was fortunate to be able to catch it with my camera! Yae Pen!! I can't believe how quickly she is progressing. Just one night and she's doing something she wasn't able to before. Right now she's also showing an interest in trying to pull up on the couch. She REALLY tries, but can't get her balance & confidence in sync! At this rate I'll probably be publishing a post on her cruising by the end of next week. EEK!

Note to Myself

2010-02-05T14:11:00.000-06:00

Why do you come up with these hair-brained ideas that only cause you stress? You didn't commit to anyone to make S a happy birthday banner, or table decorations for her party, OR to make those cute little tissue paper puffs ala Martha Stewart (A, I'm going to blame Brea for this one!). You only committed to making the invites, which you did already. Nothing else. So why, oh why do you insist on A) making stuff when you know darn well you really can't afford the extra expense, B) you don't have the extra time (ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU DECIDE TO DO ALL THIS THE DAY BEFORE THE PARTY!! HELLO McFLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and C) trying to be supermom, superSIL, superwife, supercraftstar etc.....

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH.

Yes, I will post the pics when I'm done, dang-it.

9 Months (and 1 day)

2010-02-03T22:33:00.000-06:00

I know, I know. Horrible mom....my baby turns 9mo yesterday and I don't even acknowledge it anywhere. Better late than never, right?

So HAPPY 9 MONTHS Pen-Pen. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I know we all say this, but something just happens when it's your second child. What seemed to take forever with your first child comes in an instant with the second. I can't believe we're bearing down on her first birthday. GASP. 1st birthday already?! In three months?!? HOW? WHAT? WHY?! Uggghhh, someone please slow down the clock. I don't want my baby to grow up.

Well, here is a list of milestones and stats:

A week ago, she weighed 16lbs and 14oz. The nurse at the hospital said she was 24in but I know that's not right. I will have to take her length and get back to you! Her hair is starting to come in and I keep waiting for it to get long enough to start flipping up like P1's did. That will let me know if she's going to be a curly-head like her big sister!

She can:
Sit up
Roll
Army crawl/scoot
Get into the crab-crawl position and just stay there for a minute.
Pull up on low objects (she's isn't confident yet to try pulling up on the couch or other tall objects. I'm sure that could change anyday now!)
Feed herself finger foods such as rice, peas, Mum-Mums and Rice Crispies.
Drink from a sippy cup and a regular cup (with help, of course!)
Say- Mamama, Dadadada, La-La-La-La, Bah bah bah
Give you '5' when you ask her to.
Play Wah-Wah (when you put your hand over her mouth while she's saying Ahhhhhhh)
Wave Bye Bye
Give mommy kisses!

Her faves:
Sweet Potatoes
Peas
Rice Crispies
Mum-Mums
Her Pal Violet (leapfrog puppy)
her stuffed little lamby
her mommy ;)
Groban, the cat

Her Personality:
Pen is quite the fiesty one. She wants what she wants when she wants it! More than likely, she wanted it five minutes ago and she will let you know it!!! I'm not a huge believer in astrological signs, but she's a Taurus if I've ever met one. She's strong-willed, not easily swayed, and has a little temper. She's going to be able to hold her own with her big sister, I just know it. P1 is going to think she can boss her baby sister around, and I have a feeling it's P2 whom I will be telling "leave your sister alone!" to. She is VERY sweet though and very lovable. She likes to cuddle and be close and she loves to play. She's very quick to pick up on facial expressions and she's very animated with her own. She's very curious and slightly cautious. She does have fear, but I have yet to find too many things that she shows concern towards. I hope that doesn't become a problem in the future. She also likes to sing. If I say "la la la", she will repeat after me and sometimes if will be actual notes and not just in a monotone! :)

In a nutshell, she's a lot like me. I'm in big trouble. Right mom?!? :)

Happy 9mo Penny! We love you SOO much and are so blessed you joined our family. It's only been 9 months, but I can't remember what life was like without you. I love you, my sweet baby girl.

Princess and the ENT

2010-01-29T00:05:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-28T23:39:00.001-06:00

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

2010-01-28T23:36:00.001-06:00

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!

2010-01-24T00:07:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-21T23:04:00.001-06:00

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

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

2010-01-21T22:41:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-17T23:00:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-14T17:32:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-14T17:12:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-14T17:00:00.000-06:00

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...

2010-01-12T15:47:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-12T15:39:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-11T17:05:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-11T12:36:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-10T11:14:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-10T11:00:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-03T15:45:00.000-06:00

Just because they are too cute!

He Sings

2010-01-03T15:17:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-03T15:06:00.000-06:00

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!!!!!

2009

2009-12-31T12:29:00.001-06:00

And I see for one fleeting moment, a paradise over the sun....CD

One the eve of January 1st, 2010 I can't help but look back on 2009 and say good riddance.

With the exception of my friends' babies being born, P2 being born,& all my family and friends still with us, this year pretty much sucked for a lot of people.

Personally, I endured two surgeries and M had one. One surgery yielded me a healthy and beautiful baby girl, the other left me with four horrible scars on my tummy. Damn, there goes my bikini modeling career.

It's been a tough year financially for us, but I can't complain too much. Having another daughter and the expense that comes along with another child was much anticipated (goodbye cable TV) & welcomed. Sure, it's been tight but it was expected. The economy has taken a dump in 2009, but it can only get better, right?!

2009 does end a good note for me though.

We have jobs, we have a home, we have reliable transportation,we are in relatively good health and we have two healthy and beautiful little girls who love us. We couldn't ask for much more.

To those reading this, I hope you find paradise in 2010.

Annual Christmas Photo

2009-12-29T23:21:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned in the posting below this, every year I take a pic of P1 (and now P2) on the couch with their Xmas loot from Santa & Mom & Dad (wink wink). Sometimes it includes presents from her Nannie and her GG too. Anyway, here are P1's all together in chronological order with the exception of last year. I'm praying they are on the laptop because I can't find ANY of my Christmas day photos on the home PC. :( Anyway so here they are!

**Note** I found the missing 2008 pic! See below!

2002

2003 (I didn't do so well this year!)

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009 (So few presents! Sign of the times, Kiddo!)

And Introducing P2's First Annual Christmas Photo.....

Get used to it, P2!!! Every year Mama is going to plop you down on the couch surrounded by your goodies from us! Just ask big Sis!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-29T14:09:00.001-06:00

I've been putting off updating my blog with my Christmas post/pics since my laptop cord is MIA. I'm sure I'll find it somewhere in the mess I call my living room. It looks like a Babies & ToysRUs exploded in there. That's what happens when you work full-time, your DH is still recovering from back surgery, and you have two little kids!! It seems like everytime I clean up one mess (or pile), five pop up in its place. I digress....

So about Christmas! It was a blast!! We were suprised on Christmas Eve with snow!!! In our neck of the woods, snow maybe comes once and year and usually it's just a dusting that doesn't last for more than a day. As I currently blog, there is still snow in my yard at home! Once again, as I blog now, it's raining and we're supposed to get more snow today into this evening. I wish my big girl was at home to enjoy it with me, but she's at the inlaws house. Anyway, so back to Xmas eve. M had to work so it was just me and the girls. I was a cleaning, wrapping, and baking fool that day. I managed to get done most of what I wanted to, but it took all day!

It was a winter wonderland outside, & P1 wanted to go play in it. I told her to get her new jacket and go outside. She couldn't find it. The New Jacket. The Brand New NICE WARM jacket that she had worn to school ONCE. She had left it at school. She Thinks. I was sooooo mad, I almost cancelled Christmas on her. I even called M at work and told him I was going to call "Santa" and have him bring P1 coal this year. M said that was a little harsh and didn't think ANY parent had ever taken away Christmas before. (I didn't mind being the first. She had been really bad the last couple of weeks and losing the jacket was the final straw). Well, since the school is out for break, no one is there to let us go look for it. M tried on Monday. The janitor let him look in the lost & found, but it wasn't there. So here we are, without a warm jacket. Oh, and I didn't cancel Christmas but she didn't get to go out in the snow either. I digress again (man, I'm bad about that)....

OK, so once M got home on Xmas Eve, we had our traditional meal! Tamales, refried beans, Spanish rice, and a homemade soup I like to call Hominy Stew. I made it the day before and let it sit overnight in the crockpot and it was soooo yummy. A nice touch when there is a near blizzard outside (no joke, that is what the news was calling that weather!).

After dinner M started a fire, we watched A Christmas Story, and the girls got to open their new Christmas PJs! I also took a ton of pictures!

After the girlies were in bed, the Santa gifts made their way out of hiding. Oops, something just occured to me. I think I have one more present of P1's hidden in the closet. Hmmm, now I'm thinking Easter Basket! Anyway, so we set out all the presents and I went into a coma. I was sooo tired from the day's work. Unfortunately I didn't get a full night's sleep since a baby, who shall remain nameless, decided she wanted to keep checking for Santa every few hours. Grrrrr.

By 8am P1 came bouncing into our room wanting to go check out the goodies. Little did I know, but M had set out the baby gates blocking the entrance to the living room so she couldn't get a peak before we were up. Smart man! I was going to wrap half of her door with Xmas paper, but I didn't have the energy. Did I mention how tired I was??

Santa brought P1 the following:
All Four Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters with two accessories (anyone need some, I have extras of those darn things!)
Liv Dolls & Accessories
Misc Movies
Twilight Board Game
Itunes & Justice Gift Cards, and some other stuff I can't remember.

For P2:
FP Rainforest Jumperoo (which she loved)
Leapfrog toys; Alphabet Ball, Piano, and My Pal Violet (her fave!)
Stacking toys and snap together block things!
I'm sure there are others I can't remember, but those were from Santa only!

After they were done opening the presents, I took my annual Xmas pic...it was P2's first! More on this later!

Then we got dressed and ready and went to spend all day with the family. Since there was still snow, the kids had so much fun playing in it!! So much fun that they didn't want to come in and open presents! Talk about unusual! I guess since snow is a novelty in these parts, they figured they better get while the gettin's good!!!

Great food and great company it was!!! I wish I could have seen my family, but maybe next year!!! I hope everyone had a great day with family & friends.

Follow up to the post below

2009-12-29T13:26:00.000-06:00

So I finally got an email from the grandma of the two baby boys. She said it was tough right now, but other than that they are doing well. She didn't mention anything about her daughter and the stupid choices she's been making. I've written her another email back just to see how her Christmas was and we'll see how that goes.

I figure all I can do at this point is be a friend. If she needs my help, or if I witness the situation getting unbearable, than I will step in & do something. If it's meant to be, everything will fall into place like it's supposed to.

I think I've finally cracked.

2009-12-17T10:06:00.000-06:00

I haven't even mentioned this to DH, and it probably won't happen, but I'm considering asking to adopt two baby boys. Shocking, I know. I'm crazy for even thinking A) it could happen and B) this person would give up her two boys. I just feel compelled to at least try.

Back story, a former co-worker has a daughter, I'll call her Kay. She is 22, I think. Kay lives with her mother, and both don't have a job. Kay has a toddler boy. The toddler's dad is in prison. Kay is also pregnant with baby boy #2. Don't know where the baby's dad is. From what I understand, Kay takes off for three days at a time and leaves the toddler with Grandma. Yes, more than likely is into drugs. BTW, grandma is without heat right now, I don't know how she is paying the bills, and Christmas just isn't going to happen when there is food and diapers to buy. It's an awful situation, and my heart just breaks for the toddler and for this unborn baby.

So I don't know jack about adoption, and if it could be as simple as the parent(s) signing over their rights. I have a feeling it's not. I'm not dumb enough to think it would be as simple as that. It will probably cost thousands and like I said, it probably will never happen...but I feel I at least have to put it out there to the Grandma/Kay and see if she would even consider it. I highly doubt any mom would just say "Oh sure, you want my kids...you can totally have them, where do I sign?!?!"

I know I'm totally crazy nuts for thinking we could do this, but I know we could and I know God would provide.

It's a total long shot, like I said. I doubt it will even happen, but I at least need to ask. Convincing DH will be another issue. Financial logistics would be his biggest obstacle, not caring and loving two more children. That would be the easy part.

Or maybe if we couldn't adopt them, maybe one of my friends who desperately want children would be willing to. I don't know, there are so many options, but none could happen if Kay simply says no. I haven't even mentioned it to my coworker. How do you bring that up? "Hey, your daughter SUCKS as a mom. I think she should give me her kids. OK?!" Ya, that would go over real well. How do you ask that?? Do you even ask?? Or do you hint?? "So, since your daughter is a crack head, do you really think she's a fit parent? Hmmmm, I wonder where there is a fit parent willing to take on two more children? Hmmmm, I wonder where you could find such a person???" Who knows.

So ya, it's another hair-brained idea....but from the second I heard she was pregnant (right after I came back to work from maternity leave in Aug) the thought popped into my head. I should adopt them. We could provide a loving, safe, secure home for them, I would get the big family I want without risking my life in the process, and M would get two sons.

I don't know, it's a HUGE undertaking and certainly not one to take lightly, but I just feel the need to put that option out there to them and see what happens.

Single Mom

2009-12-14T14:46:00.000-06:00

I don't envy them. It must suck to be a single mom. Never getting a break from the chores. Never getting a break from the kids. Having to do all the laundry, all the cleaning, all the cooking, etc etc..... Eeek, no thanks. I knew I loved and appreciated everything that my hubby does for us, but now I'm really thankful for him. Since he had the back surgery (which was a success!), all of the responsibilities we use to share are now mine and mine alone. I'm tired. Very tired. P2 still doesn't think sleeping through the night is a good thing, so trying to keep the house running smoothly on limited sleep is starting to ware me down. I could crash right now on my keyboard, but somehow I think my company would frown on that.

Surgery

2009-12-08T21:36:00.000-06:00

Well my DH is having back surgery tomorrow. :( I'm scared for him, but I'm hopeful that it will bring him some relief. He has three herniated discs and they have been rubbing on his sciatic nerve and causing him a lot of pain in his hip and upper thigh. He's been in some degree of pain for over a year now and he's tired of it. He takes Ibuprofen like it's candy and we all know that's not good for the body. Plus, he's had two rounds of shots to numb that portion of the nerve and its only brought minimal relief. Since I had the c-section in May and my gallbladder removed a week later, we've met our out-of-pocket max for the year so he's making the best of it and getting it done now rather than later.

If you have any extra prayers to spare, please send some up for my hubby. I hope and pray the surgery goes smoothly and that he gets relief from the pain. I love you, honey.

P1, P1, P1

2009-12-03T13:05:00.000-06:00

Have I ever told you how much this kid cracks me up?? From the time she could talk, she was saying the funniest things. Not only is she hysterical, but her outlook and perception of the world around her is one of the many reasons why I love that little girl to the depths of my soul.

These are a few of my favorite Piper-isms through the years:

Age 2, she was singing christmas carols in the backseat and copying me. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, had a very shiny *shit* nose". I hit a pot hole and guess who didn't miss a beat while repeating after me! I had to silently crack up!!

Again at 3, while driving I took a wrong turn and got lost. She was chatting and I asked her to be quiet because I was lost. Her reply? "No mommy, you're not lost, you're right there".

Again at 2, we call boy & girl parts by their real names at our house, so when she walked in on M getting out of the shower she gasped "Daddy, what's that on your 'gina?!?!". OOPS.

Around 3, she saw M in his boxers and said "Daddy, I love your big girl panties!!".

At 4 she learned to tie her shoe. I said "I can't believe you know how to tie your shoe, you're not even four and a half!" She said "No, I'm four and a whole!".

At 6, "Mommy, I really like Batch & Mahzert". She means Bach & Mozart (yes, she loves classical music and dances around the house like she's a ballerina!)

At 7, at dinner the other night.
P1: What is for dinner cuz it looks like fish.
Me: It's muppet. (I couldn't resist! It was a porkchop!)
P1: It is? What's a muppet? (Do you feel old?! We did!!)
Dad: Like Big Bird & Elmo.
P1: Oh.
P1: Daddy, can I have more Muppet??

Last week at the grocery store while looking for cat litter, "Mommy, do you have a coupon for Tittie Cat". Horrified, I said "NO, it's TIDY CAT". Thank goodness we were alone!!

This week when she said she couldn't do something I had to remind her of her age.
Me: YES you can because you are 7.
P1: I'm 7 and a half
Me: No you're not.
P1: I'm 7 and three quarters.
Me: No you're not.
P1: Well, I'm 7 and three pennies.
Me: Fine. LOL

Close Encounter of the Santa-Kind

2009-11-30T22:21:00.001-06:00

So the company that I work for hired a ton of Santa's to take free holiday pics with the kids in the stores. So not wanting to pass up a great deal when I see it, I dragged the kiddos out there, not once, but twice. The first time I got my wires crossed and I thought the man in the big red suit was going to be there on Friday. Nope. My bad, it was Saturday. It was still nice because while everyone was out shopping at the malls, we were able to frolick in the tree forest and pretend we were in the Oregon Christmas Tree farms as the first snowfall was accumulating around us. Cue the falling snow and holiday music! The second day we got to hang out with Santa and mom got to take as many pics as I wanted!! It was greatness! Multiple pictures and FREE. Who could ask for anything more?! P2 wasn't scared, in fact she was onto him....she kept tugging at his beard; his fake beard!! haha That's my girl!!

Introducing the BooBoo Lip

2009-11-30T21:51:00.000-06:00

Oh, the many faces of my sweet P2. My fave is the BooBoo Lip. She does this when she wants sympathy and/or is feeling sorry for her little self.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T21:23:00.000-06:00

It's been a few days since I posted anything, so I figured I better get on here and update. Not much is going on. Back to work today after 4 days off. Why does 4 days of vacation speed by, yet 4 work days drag on forever?! I thought I would get to relax and sleep in, but apparently P2 had other plans for me.

Since she's been teething and eating more solid foods now (YES, she is actually starting to like them!! She ate almost 4 cubes of carrots tonight!), she's been waking up several times a night. It's been like this for about a month now. Maybe longer. My baby who used to sleep from 8pm-6am is no longer. Now she's down at 8pm, up at Midnight, up at 2:30am, up at 5:30am...and that's on a good night. I haven't had a full nights sleep in such a long time that I really feel like the walking dead. Yet here I am on the PC when I should be sleeping! We're trying something different tonight, so I'm praying it works. It's 8:30 and she's still awake. Maybe keeping her up will encourage a full nights slumber. Ya, I'm not counting on it either. Normally when you try to outsmart a baby, you always end up being the one who was outsmarted. Am I right, fellow mamas?!

So anyway, Thanksgiving was awesome. Ate way too much! Everything was so good, especially my MIL's stuffing! It's actually Laura Bush's recipe for cornbread stuffing and it's SOOO yummy. I grew up with cornbread dressing (yes, I'm from CA, but the two generations before me are Texans!) but there is something wonderful about this recipe! I even had seconds, and I never have seconds of stuffing!

We took our annual family picture. It's neat to see how the kids have grown every year and to see what the weather was like that day! One year we had snow and it was awesome, but it made for a crazy picture since we take it outside!

Here are some pics of the day!

The yummy stuffing!

I'm thankful for all the blessings in my life: My beautiful kids, my awesome husband (even if there are days that I want to sell him), my loving & crazy family, my friends, my health, and my job.

UnThankful, is that a word?

2009-11-25T23:08:00.000-06:00

Just got done reading (and writing) my last (few) posts and WOW, I must be in some kind of mood!! PMS maybe?! Skipped a dose of my happy pills? Maybe!! Holiday stress, perhaps?? IDK. Maybe a combination of all of the above. Well, since this is my blog, I'm allowed to whine and complain all I want. It's my blog and I will cry, bitch, and moan if I want to! So there!! :p Some things just continue to piss me off. Instead of continuing to dwell on them, it's nice to have an outlet for my gripes. I mean really, if your blog is all sunshines and roses, you're lying to yourself and everyone else. I have a good life, I have a great family, but sometimes things happen that you just need to bitch about and I think more people can relate to you when you do get your feelings out via the written (errrr typed) word.

So, in honor of Thanksgiving Eve, I'm going to start a new trend. Things I'm NOT thankful for this year!!! I urge you to make your own list! We can be nice and thankful tomorrow. Tonight I feel like being UnThankful.

1. My deadbeat father. Another holiday you've chosen to ignore your kids. Pathetic. When you divorce your wife, it doesn't mean you're supposed to divorce your kids as well. Man up and be a father.

2. Dumbass Drivers. (see blog post below)

3. Wells Fargo Bank (see blog post below below!).

4. Damn Flu, Swine and Ear infections. Leave my family alone.

5. Religious freaks who use books and movies as a platform to promote their religious agendas instead of enjoying them for the entertainment that they are. Especially when said freaks base their opinions on heresy.

6. To all the people who don't 'get' Twilight. Try reading it and forming your own opinion.

7. To the abusers (aka, her parents) who killed 5mo Briana. I hope you burn in hell and get exactly what you deserve when it's your time to answer for what you did. In fact, that goes out to all of the abusers of kids and women in the world.

8. To Twitter, ya, I'm on it, but I don't like it. It's a place for celebs to talk about how great they are and how they do nothing ALL day.

9. I'm totally unthankful that Alison's baby died and yet LQ's unwed daughter is knocked up for the second time by God only knows who. Makes me sick.

10. I'm also unthankful to all my friends who so desperately want children and can not have them for whatever reasons. It's sickening to see teenagers popping out kids like they were a Pez dispenser and yet good people, stable people who can provide a loving home can't even have one. That totally sucks.

11. I'm unthankful to the SAHMs who get foodstamps, CHIP, WIC or Medicaid or whatever form of public assistance. If there is nothing wrong with your ass, you should be working and supporting your children just as much as your husband OR baby-daddy. Why do I have to bust my ass at work and pay taxes so you can stay home and continue to have more kids you can't afford. Uuuggghhhhhhhhhhhhh.

^&%*&%&^% TEXAS DRIVERS

2009-11-25T22:31:00.000-06:00

For those that don't know, I grew up driving in Southern California. Yes, LA. Yes, horrible traffic anywhere you go at anytime. From the age of 18 until I was 26, I never had anything resembling an accident. Nothing. Not even a fender bender.

Now, flash forward to 2007. I've had 4 accidents. Not to mention a ton of near-misses. NONE were my fault. One teenager pulled out in front of me trying to make a left hand turn and I t-boned her. I injured my shoulder pretty bad and messed up my car pretty good. Then a few days later, in the rental car, I was behind a guy in a truck who decided he would just throw it into reverse and before I could react, he nailed me. Totalled that car (cheapy car to begin with). Then one day I was heading to the office and I was stopped at a light. Suddenly someone ran right into the back of me, probably going 20mph. At that point I was beginning to think there was a freakin bullseye on my back. Then last year, wow, actually to the day, P1 and a pregnant me, were on the freeway coming back from seeing Twilight. There was traffic and of course we just came to a stop then suddenly BAM!! a crash to the back of my SUV. P1 and I were OK, but I was fit to be tied. I got out of the car and I let that kid (yes, another kid) have it!!! I was SOOO mad.

Well tonight, it almost happened again. I was on the freeway on my way home from work, with P2 in the car. I was merging onto one highway from another and there was a solid white line separating the two. As I'm going about 40mph, I see this little white car starting to cross the white line into my lane. I started laying on the horn and started bracing for impact. THANK GOD he slowed down and never crossed into my lane, but I just KNEW he was going to nail us, which would have had us slamming into a guardrail and possibly flipping over it down into the embankment. I shudder to think about what could have happened. I was shaking SO bad and for a fleeting second I thought about stopping the car, getting out and giving that driver (and his car) a piece of my mind. You know if you endanger my life, that's one thing, but when it comes to endangering my kids, all bets are off!!!

So, I'm giving thanks early. Thank you to my angels for keeping P2 and I safe, and that guy better thank his angels that this mama bear didn't get out of my car and whip his ass. THAT'S how mad I was.

For the record, Texas drivers- YOU SUCK!!!!!!!! Especially you 30yo boys in a truck who think you own the road and think that red lights and stop signs are negotionable!!! STOP RUNNING RED LIGHTS YOU IDIOTS!!!! Yes, traffic is LA is terrible but at least they know how to drive. When I went home for 2 weeks in July, I traveled from one end of CA to the other and not once did I see a single accident. When we flew back to TX, I saw an accident on the way home from the airport. I rest my case.

Letter to Wells Fargo

2009-11-25T12:21:00.002-06:00

If swearing offends you, move on

Dear Wells Fargo,

You would think after 16 faithful years of my business you would cut me some slack when I overdraft my account three times, for a total of $4. YES, FOUR FUCKING DOLLARS!!!! WHY do you insist on charging me THREE seperate $35 FEES on the SAME FUCKING DAY?!?!? If you do the math, that is $105 dollar fee for spending $4 dollars. THANK GOD you are not my primary account/bank and I don't have 100% of my funds going to your institution, but as of today, I will not contribute a penny more into your deep pockets. If an account has ZERO in it, WHY THE FUCK DO YOU ALLOW TRANSACTIONS TO KEEP POSTING AGAINST IT ? Oh wait, I know. It's to BEND ME the FUCK OVER & charge me $35 EACH time for the priviledge. Well FUCK YOU, Wells Fargo. You can take your $-109 AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS.

November 24th, already?

2009-11-24T13:14:00.000-06:00

Where has the year gone?? I can't believe this is the week of Thanksgiving. Normally I feel like I'm ahead of the holidays, but this year I'm WAY behind. I will say that I've started some of my Christmas shopping, but I'm nowhere near ready to decorate the house, have the girls Christmas pics taken, started my Christmas cards (OMG, I totally forgot that I'm making them by hand again this year!!), or have any idea what 'Santa' is bringing the girls this year. I think Santa is going to be VERY selective this year. P2 doesn't know the difference and somehow P1 has it in her head that Santa only brings 8 presents. Period. I think she reached that conclusion last year because on her note to Santa, on special paper that I found, there are only 8 blank spaces to write in her wishes. So 8 she will get. Works for me! P2 will probably get a ton of stuff from the relatives, but I think Santa is bringing her a FP Jumperoo. New or Used? I can't decide. I think since it's her very first Christmas, I will buy it new....although since she's so little, would she really know the difference? I would know, and for some reason buying my child a second-hand toy on her first Christmas just seems wrong. Am I crazy? Probably. Oh well, it's not about the gifts we receive or give. It's about our family being together, being safe, and being healthy. I'd say we have it pretty good right now....things could change in an instant.

I heart Stephenie Meyer

2009-11-17T20:51:00.003-06:00

If you don't know who Stephenie Meyer (SM) is, I ask if you've been living in a cave for the last couple of years?! Probably the same place I was a little over a year ago. SM is only the author of 4 amazing books. See that beautiful little poster over there with the girl and the two HOT guys?! SM wrote The Twilight Saga books. Two of them are now made into movies and the other two should be out next year and maybe 2011 if we're lucky! (if you really have never heard of them, go out and buy the books and get back to me in a week and let me know how obsessed you are!!)

Anyway, so why do I love SM? Well, last week http://www.thetwilightsaga.com/ was inviting all Twilight fans to ask SM some questions regarding New Moon. I think the window for emailing the questions was 12 hours and I squeaked mine in at the very last hour. Yesterday, the site was going to post those questions that SM so graciously answered! Much to my surprise one of the questions she answered was MINE!!!!!! WHOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Not only did she answer my question, but it's also currently posted on the front page of her website!!!!! http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ Besides the birth of my second daughter, that has totally made my year!!!! THANK YOU STEPHENIE!!!!

Busy Busy Busy

2009-11-15T17:40:00.001-06:00

It's getting to be that time of year. The Holidays. Thanksgiving is in less than two weeks and Christmas is fast on its heels. I'm SOO not ready this year. I think I say that every year, but this year is different, I'm trying to do everything I've always done, but this time I have a 7yo AND a baby!! I'm grateful, but I see myself busy every weekend from now until 1-2-10. This weekend was no exception.

It started Friday night with some cleaning I've been putting off all week. I don't know what it is, but I'm seeing a trend. I must get my second wind on Friday night even though I've had a serious case of dragonass by the time Wednesday rolls around at work! Yet, on Friday nights I get this burst of energy and want to get a lot of chores done before the weekend. So that's what we did. We cleaned.

Then on Saturday, P1 had a birthday party to attend and we were also invited to a picnic with M's family. Since they both overlapped, M took P2 to the picnic while I took P1 to the bday party. After the party was over, P1 and I met them all over there. It was fun, the cousins had a blast as usual, and the food was pretty yummy! It was another gorgeous Saturday so we were all thankful for that!

Then later that day we cleaned some more. I had a ton of laundry to be folded and put away. By the time that was all done, both kiddos were ready to go down for the night and M and I decided to watch Iron Man. It was a pretty good movie! While we were doing that, I made a tutu for P1 with some leftover tulle I had. I also decided to make some clippies for the girls. (Yes, A, I finally did it!) I do have to go back and fix a few things because they didn't lay right when I put them on the headbands, but other than that here are a few of my examples with a gorgeous model!

Ya, the cream one is bigger than her head, but I love it!!!

Today, P1 and I played with a nail salon toy she got for her bday. While we were doing that, I was also making P2's homemade baby food. Not sure if I mentioned it, but I decided a little bit ago (wild hair is more like it!) that I was going to attempt to make her baby food. So to add to the butternut squash I made a few weeks ago, we now have on the menu: Green Beans, Spinach, Broccoli, and Carrots! Now if I could just get her to like it!! This little girl is anti-baby food. She gags. She spits it out. She closes her mouth tight, turns her head and whacks it with her hand if you aren't fast enough to get some in her mouth! Little stinker.

Cheetah Girls

2009-11-08T19:48:00.000-06:00

I bought these adorable PJs for P2 and P1 got this set from her Mimi. You can't really tell, but P1's pants are Cheetah-licious too, so of course I had to have pics taken!!!

November 2, 2009

2009-11-08T19:42:00.000-06:00

My beautiful P2 is 6 months old. Where does the time go???? It seems like only yesterday we were trying so hard to conceive another child and here I am blogging about said child. She has been a great blessing to our entire family. P1 just loves her baby sister, I get to enjoy watching M around his baby girl & his big girl, and I get to snuggle and huggle another sweet P. God is good and we're so grateful for this child.

Those two photos above were taken on 11-2. She weighs a little over 14lbs now and I'm not sure of her length. She's got her two bottom teeth coming up at the same time (poor baby). They are about half way up! She's also trying to get up on those knees to get to where she wants to go! I just bought some baby gates for the house and I think the timing is perfect! Once she figures it out I know there will be no stopping her! We go to the Pedi on 11-20 for her 6mo check up. I know, late. Here are some other pics that I've taken recently of my growing Sweet P!

Halloween Continued

2009-11-08T19:22:00.000-06:00

Before we get to Thanksgiving, I better finish posting about Halloween! Since we're just NOW starting to get over the crud we all have had, I've had no energy to spend anytime on the PC when I get home!! Now it's Sun night and M is giving me a break by giving P2 a bottle, I figure I better hurry & post about Halloween.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but M and P1 decided they did want to carve pumpkins, so I found the last remaining decent ones and we carved them!

Here is P1 scoping out the pumpkins!

Here is mine!

This one is daddy's pumpkin.

Mommy's...need I say more?!

TADA!!!!

My girls!

P1 posing with our little scene out front!

The Loot

My favorite part of carving pumpkins, the yummy seeds! Here they are right after I dried them in the oven.

After they were made happy, recipe ala Martha Stewart (Sweet & Spicy). YUM-O! I've been making them every year for the last 4 or 5 and they taste better every year!

P2's Party Trick

2009-11-05T13:54:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yBcu8BwIpw

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T12:44:00.002-05:00

Saturday was a really busy day! I had to go pick up my new glasses that I've been neglecting for about 3wks. Then P1 and I had to get our hair done. It had been months since we'd had a trim, so it was much needed! She got her hair layered and it looks so cute! She's getting to be such a big girl! We also goofed around at the mall for a few while waiting to get into the salon. We saw a cardboard cut-out of 'Edward' & 'Jacob' from Twilight and P posed for a pic with them! LOL

Since the family hadn't been feeling well, we came home and rested before starting to carve the pumpkins. In an earlier post, I mentioned that we might skip them and I fully intended to. Then on Friday, the 30th, M and P decided that they wanted pumpkins! So I went to Wally World and found two of the best I could find on October 30th! It was slim pickins!! After our naps, M and I started to carve them and P1 supervised. P2 was still sleeping so she missed the festivities. :( They came out pretty good and I got a lot of pkn seeds out of them so that was a plus for me! I love making Sweet and Spicy pumpkin seeds! YUM! When P2 woke up, I tried to fit her into one of the pumpkins for a picture (got it from an idea from my friend, B) but she wouldn't fit!! Oh well! I did snap some pics of her wearing her "Baby's 1st Halloween" onesie and of sister wearing her Alice Costume.

I did a big mommy foul and I didn't take a single pic of P2 in her costume on Halloween. :( She did wear it and she actually kept the crown on, but of course I didn't capture it. She had fun though, I think! She actually had this stunned, deer in headlights look on her face though. I know she was thinking: "Why am I wearing this?, WHAT IS ON MY HEAD? Why are you pushing me around in the stroller, at night? Who are all these kids running around? What the heck are they wearing?? I'm cold, why aren't we going into any of those warm houses? What do they keep giving big sister?? Ya, you people have completely lost your minds!!!!"

We had fun though, despite the three out of four of us being sick. The next day we cleaned and got ready for the week ahead.

It's VERY scary to think that this time next year we will have an 8year old AND an 18mo old Trick or Treating with her big sister!!

My beef this week....

2009-10-31T00:18:00.000-05:00

Hypocrites.

Back home, Halloween was fun. It was a time when the weather got cooler, the decorations started showing up on the neighborhood streets, we got to dress up and go to school in our costumes, and I got to stay out late at night with my friends roaming the streets & getting candy. Ahhh, good times. Now here, in TX, or the Bible Belt...it's "Satan's Holiday". Huh?! Never in CA had I heard of Trunk or Treat...or this time of year being referred to as "Fall Harvest" because "Halloween" brings up too many negative connotations. Whatever.

When I was younger and much into my adult life, my former best friend (long story) is a Jehovah's Witness. When we were younger, and I'm sure still to this day, her family would get together and have a large family meal on....hmmmm, Easter Sunday....or on the fourth Thursday in the month of November, or on the 25th of December. But NOOOO, they weren't celebrating the holidays, they didn't believe in the holidays. They were just getting together and having a family get-together. Now this may offend you, but what the f*ck?!?! How convenient that you do the exact same thing we Christians do, but you just call it a different name. I never understood that.

So, my point (and I do have one) is that here in the Bible Belt, Halloween at the schools is frowned upon. There are no Jack-O-Lanterns, no bats, witches, ghosts etc.... but having a pumpkin patch at the school and having hayrides is A-OK?!?!? Again, what the f*ck?!?! Isn't it the same exact thing, but just with a happier name???? I just don't get it!!!!! It makes me angry when religious freaks bend the 'rules' to accomodate their own belief structure. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a freakin duck!!!!!!!! GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!

Halloween Eve & We're Sick

2009-10-30T23:51:00.001-05:00

I'm just not feeling it this year. Normally, Halloween is my favorite holiday, next to Christmas. I haven't even decorated my house. I think having a new baby, dealing with M's back ailment, and working 40hrs a week is taking its toll on me. It doesn't help that 3 out of 4 of us have been sick for over a week. P2 has been sick for almost 2 weeks. She is getting better, but it's been rough on her. This crud that she has is awful. Also, with no antibiotics to give her, there isn't much we can do. Thankfully she's not running a fever anymore. M and I both have it too. I think M is getting better while I'm still fighting a sore throat. I wonder if I do have strep. Since I have no time to take myself to the doctor and since I'm not running a temp, I guess I'll never know.

To add insult to injury, it doesn't help that last Tuesday one of P2's two bottom teeth poked through (sigh). She's growing up. :( She's actually getting two at the same time and I feel bad for the little girl. Not only to be sick and miserable, but throw teething into the mix and you get one unhappy 5mo old. She's on the mend though. She was able to stay home with daddy all week so I think that helped her. I'm happy they got to bond this week.

Family Pics

2009-10-26T12:34:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago a friend of mine volunteered to take some family photos for us. It's the first ones we've had done since P1 was about 18mo and the first to include our newest princess. It's LONG overdue! Another friend volunteered his BEAUTIFUL garden for the shoot!

I wish M would have worn 'fake' glasses, but I thought they still came out pretty well!! The photographer messed around with the pics and I'm not sure I'm going to leave them, but here are some of my favorite! :)

P1's Birthday Party

2009-10-26T12:17:00.000-05:00

It was a success, but I'm so glad it's over. P2 has been sick for almost a week and I've been fighting something as well for a few days. Thank goodness P1 is well (knock on wood). We rented out a party gazebo in a private park and it was a blast. We had a huge playground, enclosed for the kids to go crazy in. Crazy they went too!! I think we had about 40 people there! P1 made out like a bandit! We had hotdogs, chips, juice, water, pickles, strawberries, candy, and the beautiful Tinkerbell cake! No, I didn't make it, but I wish I was this talented! Here are a few pics! :)

This was the coveted gift! She loves info-mercials and has wanted a Snuggie forever! Here she is snuggling with her sister! :)

October October October

2009-10-23T11:43:00.000-05:00

To say it's been a busy few weeks for our family is an understatement. I have the same thought every October, and that is "Oh, this month is just crazy because *this* is going on...it won't be like this next year." Ummm, not quite. October is like *this* EVERY year!!!

I used to be super excited when Fall appeared!! When P1 was little, by the time 10-1 rolled around, the house would be decorated, pumpkins ready to be carved, her costume would be ready to go and we would just have a dinner for M's birthday and a small-ish party for P1's birthday. Now, Oct is just the precursor for the next 3 months to come and go at warp speed. Leaving nothing in its path but a trail of destruction consisting of wrapping paper, turkey carcasses, and empty bank accounts. YIPPY!

There is only one decoration at our house. The costumes are made, but no pumpkins are to be found. We might skip pumpkins this year. (I KNOW, can you imagine?!?!). We just have so much going on. Not only do we have their birthdays, my newest nephew's birthday happens to be the same day as my youngest brother. Plus, we have something else we didn't have last year and that's P2!!! She's keeping me very busy too. So even though P1's bday was last weekend, her real party is tomorrow. (EEK) It's going to be at a really cool park with rides and everything! Wish me luck!!!

7 years already

2009-10-18T23:15:00.057-05:00

I can't believe that 7 years ago today, my first daughter was born. It seems like only yesterday that I tested that Easter Sunday morning on 3/31/02 and in that instant, with a positive pregnancy test, my life had changed forever.

It was a busy time in my life. M had asked me, officially (ie, rock in hand!), to marry him in November of 2001 and we had planned a Spring wedding. April to be exact. I hadn't been feeling well for a few weeks and thought my period was about to start any minute. I had been crampy and irritable; two sure signs that "Aunt Flow" was on her way. M kept saying he thought I was pregnant, but I tested numerous times before and they were all BFNs (code for Big Fat Negatives). So that Easter morning, it came as a COMPLETE and TOTAL shock that right there, glaring down in front of me was a BFP (Big Fat Positive). I remember it was 5am in the morning and M was still asleep. I walked into our room, test in hand, and I said "This THING says I'm pregnant". He smiled, hugged me, and said "Congratulations, you're going to be a mommy". To say I was shocked was an understatement.  I was under the impression that it would be difficult for us to conceive when we decided it was time. I've had irregular cycles my entire life and since M and I were 'shacking up', we weren't being exactly careful (if you know what I mean!). Well, I cried for three days. Our wedding was in 13 days, out of state, and there was STILL a lot to do. I was stressed, overwhelmed and quite frankly, even though I was 26, I felt too young to be having a child.

To date the pregnancy, M and I went to a clinic. It was a Christian clinic and it was an interesting experience to say the least. Anyway, we found one that did sonograms early on and sure enough, I was pregnant. They guessed about 5wks pregnant. It was the most surreal thing, knowing there was someone growing inside of me that M and I created. I knew we were blessed, but it was hard to see the forest through the trees. What awaited me was beyond anything I ever could have imagined.

Once the wedding was done, it was time to switch gears and get ready for baby!! I was due 11-17 so I had to get cracking!   Thankfully, both of our families were extremely supportive and couldn't wait for this baby to be born!! M and I bought furniture, strollers, carseats etc etc... All the baby gear you could imagine. There was one thing missing though; the baby's gender. I had numerous sonos and not once could they tell the sex. The baby had its legs closed or it was facing my back so they could never tell me if she was a boy or girl. I don't care for the color yellow, nor did I want all green baby clothes so I was pretty upset that the baby wasn't cooperating!

My pregnancy was pretty rough, even though I felt pretty good throughout it....my body was freaking out. It started with a scare that took me to the ER shortly after getting that BFP. I had started to spot and while at the ER, they told me it was a threatned miscarriage.  We were upset, but we would just give it to God and whatever was to happen would. Thank goodness the hcg (the hormone produced by the fetus) kept going up, so that indicated a growing baby. Then that was followed by two horrible cases of bronchitis. I couldn't really take anything while being pg, nor did I want to. I would cough so hard that I ended up vomiting more times than not. Then, one day at work, I developed some really bad pains on my right side. I felt like I was being stabbed in the kidneys. After another trip to the ER, it was confirmed. Kidney stones. I passed them, but had to follow up with a urologist afterwards. I tell you what, I was the only woman and the only person under 60 in there!! He couldn't find anymore and sent me on my merry way.

After that episode, I failed my glucose tolerance test. Both of them. My pancreas was not making enough insulin so I was sent to a dietician and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I was lucky this time and was able to control it by diet alone.

Just so life wouldn't get boring, I started having dizzy spells and headaches and my OB thought I could benefit from some PT. So there I went for a few weeks to strengthen some muscles in my neck & back to hopefully stop them from happening. Looking back, I think it was a warning sign of what was to come.

Towards the end of my pregnancy, my blood pressure started to rise. Being overweight at the start of the pregnancy, it didn't surprise anyone that my blood pressure would probably start becoming a problem. Well, a problem child it was, let me tell you! It got so bad that I had several 24hr urine tests done (I had to collect my pee for one day) and a nurse even had to come out to the house to monitor me, make sure I was staying on bedrest and showed me how to use the BP cuff. There were also a few nights in the hospital to monitor it. Those were awful. Those hospital beds seem nice at first, but after one night you might as well start sleeping on the ground because there isn't a huge difference!

At one overnight stay, I was waiting for M to show up from work and while I was getting a sono, the gal asked if I knew the sex of the baby. I said, "Can YOU see it?!?!". She said she could and I asked her to write it down for me and seal it in an envelope. I wanted M to be with me when we found out. Later on when he arrived in the room, I showed it to him and told him what it was. He let me open it and I exclaimed "IT'S A GIRL"!! Inside the tech had written "Congratulations, it's a girl!!" We both got a little teary-eyed and hugged. I still have that piece of paper! I then quickly called my mom and told her "IT'S PINK" and the shopping flood gates opened!!! Mom, Grandma, Great-Grandma and the Aunts all went girl shopping! That was two weeks before I had her.

On 10-16, my old job hosted a shower for me! We got SOOOO many nice things! We couldn't wait to bring P.A. home! After the shower I had an appt with the OB who informed me that the high blood pressure was getting worse. Off to the hospital I went. This time, she told me I was done being pregnant and we would be having this baby in the next day or so. YIKES.

I didn't even get to really clean the house like I wanted to. I didn't get to wash all the cute stuff we received. It just happened so fast. Baby shower and then straight to having the baby!! CRAZY.

That was Wednesday evening, 10-16. They were monitoring the BP and it wasn't coming down. The next day it was still elevated and tests that were run the day before showed that my kidneys were starting to fail. Add that to the list of ailments this little girl was causing me! :)   That was it. No choice but to induce. On the evening of 10-17, they started this cervix ripening gel that prepares your body for labor. At first it was fine, then by 3 hours later I started feeling it.

PAIN. OUCH. The nurse told me to take a shower that night because I was going to have a few different IVs and once I was hooked up, I wouldn't be able to get out of bed. I remember being in the shower and feeling like I was having the worst cramps of my life. I couldn't even stand up straight because I was hunched over in pain. I remember telling M over and over "this effin hurts badly....this SUCKS". LOL

Once I started progressing, the doctor gave me some meds so I could rest. More like medicine to knock me out. It seemed like I was waking up every 20 minutes in pain
and M was right by my side the entire time. Not knowing this, but the nurse had put a cathetir in me since I couldn't get up and walk around. They gave me magnesium to prevent seizures from the high BP, so they couldn't have me up and about. When I woke up in pain, I felt like I also had to pee! I told M, in a whisper, "I have to pee." He would say "go, it's OK". "No!" I said. He said "it's OK, you have a cathetir" "No!!!" I would say. "I have to go really bad". Then right away I would fall back asleep again and 20 min later we would have the exact same conversation! hahaha

Shortly thereafter I was told it was time for the epidural! YIPPY! For me, it was pain free and the guy who did it was VERY nice. Once it was hooked up, I was OUT.   The next thing I knew, all of these people were in the room making a racket and I was told "It's Time!". It was now the morning of Friday, 10-18.

M was by my side and I was told to push. I couldn't feel much, but they said I was doing a great job, and I kept thinking "If you say so, crazy people! I don't feel squat!". haha My lips were SOOOO incredibly dry. M was giving me ice chips, but they weren't helping at all. My mouth felt like I had a huge wad of cotton in it. BLEH. After about 4 pushes, I heard all kinds of commotion and then I heard the word "vacuum". Afterwards M told me that P1's heartrate was dropping and they had to make a split second decision. Emergency Cesarian, or using the vacuum. She was stuck. Since the nurse could see her head, that's what they opted for. OH, I forgot to say that since this was at 5am, my OB wasn't on call that morning so I got some guy delivering me. A complete stranger. I was ticked, but what can you do really?! Anyway, so they used the vacuum and she slipped right out.   At 5:25am, my beautiful baby girl was born. 5lbs 9oz and she was 18in long. She did have trouble & they had to inflate her lungs to get her to breathe on her own. She did quickly, but they still needed to check her. I don't know if I said this, but she was born early at 35wks. Normal human gestation is 40wks.

One thing I was SOOO worried about was tearing during delivery. After she was born and I made sure she was healthy, I asked if I tore. They said I didn't and I was SOOOO relieved. I didn't want to deal with that, as I hear it can be SUPER painful. I figured I had been through enough with the pregnancy that God was sparing me from anymore pain. hahahahaha WRONG.

So about 30 minutes after I had her, the epi started wearing off and I could feel this (OK, TMI warning!!!!!! TOO MUCH INFORMATION. If you're squemish, quit reading now) ....where was I? Oh, so afterwards I felt this stabbing pain in my va-jay-jay (or 'gina' as it's called in my house!). I told M if felt like I was being ripped open from the inside out. It was AWFUL, TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, EXCRUCIATING PAIN. I demanded he go get the nurses. They came in and saw that I was bleeding from the gina and they said it was normal after giving birth. I sucked it up and tried my best to manage the pain. They packed it with some gauze and gave me some vicodin pills. Ya, that didn't do ANYTHING. A short while later, this time I was hollering at M telling him I didn't care if he had to drag a nurse in by her hair, but to get someone in there ASAP.

A few more nurses came in and when they removed the gauze to check me, I heard "Oh My God, her doctor needs to get in here NOW!" Followed by "This is ridiculous".  Luckily my OBs office was in the hospital and they were able to get her to me quickly. I remember her walking in, saying something to me and the nurse putting meds into my epidural. THANK GOD it was still in my back.

Now this is what I remember next. A bright white light above me, in a bright white room. My eyes were closed and I kept hearing "T? Can you hear me? Open your eyes". I was dead...or so I thought.   I saw a man's face looking down on me and I could barely keep my eyes open. I had an oxygen mask on my face and he wouldn't shut up with the "T, open your eyes".   I closed my eyes only to wake up back in the room where I had P1.   I heard a lady's voice. She was talking about me. I looked to my left and there was my OB, talking to my inlaws and M. OK, so I wasn't dead. Close, but nope. Not dead.

This is what happened.

Since the dr. used the vacuum to get P1 out, part of the inside wall of the 'gina got sucked in there with it. It ruptured a vein and I was bleeding out. A massive hematoma (a large bruise) had formed and that's where the pain & blood was coming from. When the nurses came in to check me the second time, when they removed the gauze, a HUGE GUSH of blood came pouring out. Apparently it went all over the bed and on the floor. After that, they dosed my epidural and rushed me to the OR. My OB was able to find the vein, stop the bleeding and repair it...something she said is almost impossible to do (locate the vein that is hemorraging). I did need two blood transfusions since I had lost so much blood.   I was alive though. M's parents thought I had died because when they walked into the room, my bed was gone, there was a lady mopping all the blood off the floor, and M was crying with his head in his hands alone. Of course they thought the worst. Scary time. My family is in CA so they could only go on phone calls that were few and far between. I knew my mom was having a fit because I couldn't update her. Sorry mom!

Since P1 was born on Friday morning, I didn't get to hold her until much later that night. I'm sad that I missed that time with her, but I know daddy was with her and I was still alive so I had a lot to be thankful for.

Thankfully she was fine health wise and just a little jaundice. I was able to go home the following Monday and she came home on Tuesday. My recovery lasted a LONG LONG LONG time. It was very painful to do anything for a while.

Ya, the pregnancy, labor and post-delivery were awful, but at the end of it I got the best prize in the world. My beautiful, sweet, smart, and precious baby girl. I love you VERY much Piper. I never knew what unconditional love meant until you were born. I never knew what it was like to love someone so much that you would die to protect them. I never knew how much I could love another person until I held you in my arms and whispered your name for the very first time. Instant Love.   God sent you to me to save me. You give me a reason for living and I'm a better person because of you. Thank you my honey bear. Mommy loves you with every fiber of my being; and I ALWAYS will.

Just a few of my favorite pics of P1 through the years....

Big Day Tomorrow

2009-10-16T22:03:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is a big day. We're going to a friend's house to have some family pictures taken! Now that we're a complete family of 4 and P2 is almost 6mo, it's time!!!

Now I tend to get a little stressed and totally type-A when it comes to stuff like this because I want the pictures to be perfect. I want my kids to look perfect, I want my kids to act like perfect angels, I want to look perfect, I want us to look like the 'perfect' family. You know and I know that's a pretty high expectation that will NEVER happen and we all know I don't have the perfect family. It's close, but nothing is perfect. No one is perfect. With that said, I'm going to try really hard to just chill and enjoy the time with my family. All the non-perfect 4 of us!! Wish me luck!!

Happy Birthday Ube

2009-10-13T17:21:00.000-05:00

Today is my baby brother's birthday. A (aka, Ube) is 22yrs old today! I remember the day you were born. We had a large earthquake not a few days before and we joked that the quake put mom into labor. You were a preemie, but I think you were just ready for the world and ready to make some friends! You were a little peanut. In fact, that's what you were called. You weighed in at 4lbs-something and you fit in dad's hand. He could palm you like a football. So tiny, but a beautiful baby. We all called you the family baby. I was almost 13, M was 8, so we were all aware of what a baby meant to our family. Even though I REALLY REALLY wanted a baby sister (I cried the day I found out you were a boy!), I instantly loved you when I saw dad holding you behind the glass in the NICU. You quickly gained weight and were allowed to come home. We all had SOOOOO much fun with you as a baby!! My favorite memories of you were:

Calling you Ube (A variation of dad's song, "You Be, You Be, You be daddy's Baby" Ironic now that the bastard isn't in our lives, but I digress...)
Having you call me "Soiny" which was supposed to be 'Sissy'.
Watching you slide down the stairs feet first on your belly. Man, that was funny and you were QUICK!
Watching you run on your toes in your walker. You looked just like an Australian Flared Lizard when you did that. It was hilarious.
I loved our Halloweens when I got to dress you up! I loved the Riddler and the car accident boy with the sign that said "Larry H. Parker got me SQUAT".
The way you carried Simmy around in a headlock. You were the only person she would let carry her that way!
Last but not least: Me: Who do you love? U: You. Me: Of course, who else would you love? U: Nobody. Me: What are you supposed to do? U: Remember that. Me: Applecore. U: Who's your friend? Me: YOU ARE!!!!!!

We love you very much A!!

Too many bdays in Oct

2009-10-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

OK, once again life around these parts has to get interesting for me! Drama always seems to find me, even though I hide from it like the plague. (please don't mention this on FB- THEY are on there!)

So here's the latest....

My SIL has three kids: J1, J2, & J3.

P1's actual bday is this Sunday (18th).

P1's party is next Saturday (24th).

J1 is 8 and is invited to a fancy party this Sat (17th).

J3's First Bday is today (13th).

MIL mentioned having his bday for family at a Build a Bear, but never said when.

We moved P1's party (at my MIL's request) from the 17th to the 24th so J1 wouldn't miss her 'fancy party'.

We've scheduled family pics on the 17th since we moved P1's party to the 24th.

Now, my SIL is wanting to celebrate J3's bday on P1's actual Bday (Sun) and I'm not very happy about it.

We haven't made any definite plans for Sunday with P1, but we talked about either going to see a musical OR going to see Where the Wild Things Are. Ya know, just spending time alone as a family with her. Am I wrong to not want to go to my nephews party on MY daughter's bday? Especially when I've already changed my plans to accomodate their activities. I just think that since my SIL dragged her feet about J1's party, we shouldn't have to drop everything either.

Either way, I know I'm going to end up looking like the bad guy in this mess. Any suggestions. Right now I'm avoiding any texts/calls until I can talk to M and work this out.

Sisters

2009-10-11T22:18:00.000-05:00

I took these pics a few days ago and I just have to share. At only 5mo, their bond is so strong. P2 just adores her older sis and P1 is the sweetest and most gentle big sister out there. The tone she uses with her just makes my heart melt. (except there was that one time when P2 was crying in the backseat of the car and I asked P1 to give her her Paci and I heard P1 mutter "Do you want your stinkin' paci or not?!?") I know they will have their ups and downs, but I can't wait to watch them grow and become each others best friend.

Freakishly Long

2009-10-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

That's one thing my girls did NOT get from me...their freakishly long eyelashes!! Lucky girls! I have the shortest, straightest lashes on Earth and yet both my girls have lashes that most people could only dream of having! They can thank daddy for that! When P1 was born, she was 5wks premature, she barely had any lashes. Then within weeks they kept growing, and growing, and growing! Her Mimi teased that she was putting all her energy into growing those lashes instead of getting bigger, "afterall..." she said, "a girl has her priorities!". So true! Now it looks like P2 is taking after her big sis!

Happy Birthday to my Hubby

2009-10-09T09:20:00.000-05:00

Today my wonderful husband turns 33. Saying "Happy Birthday" to the man who has changed my life in so many wonderful ways just doesn't seem like enough. So instead I will say "Thank You" to the man that you are, to the wonderful father that you continue to be, and to the best husband any woman could ever dream of. I love you. Thank you for letting me share another birthday with you.

The Finished Product!

2009-10-07T09:43:00.000-05:00

I finished P1's Tink invitations....well, the cover of them anyway. I just need to print up the info and get them in the mail. Lets just say the hard part is over! YIPPY! I made 31 of these in 5 days! Everything was cut from cardstock and glued together. P1 is quick to point out that she did help, A LOT!! Now that she's getting older, it's great to have a little helper and I'm fortunate that she loves doing crafts! Glad I was able to pass the creative gene down to her!

TADA!!!!!!!!!!!

Just because

2009-10-06T17:24:00.002-05:00

This is called TALENT!

She wasn't the only one

2009-10-06T16:11:00.000-05:00

In keeping with the spitting out food theme...it was mine & M's turn last night.

I first must say what an awesome chef my hubby is. Everybody says 'Oh my husband can make a great steak" or "my husband can BBQ really well.." That's great and everything, but my hubby can really cook...and not just BBQ either! He's been known to make such yummy dishes as shrimp scampi, Alaskan King Crab legs, Chicken & Potato curry, pizza from scratch, etc... I must also say that since we've moved from CA, fish doesn't wow me in TX like it used to (CA=ocean 20min away, TX=ocean hours away).   M loves fish, but I choke it down since he goes to the trouble to make it.

While I was finishing up nursing P2 last night, M called for P1 that dinner was ready. In the kitchen, I hear a disgruntled P1 complaining about the 'yucky fish' for dinner. I thought, 'Oh great, time to eat a lot of sides'.  I sit down at the table and see that he's prepared steamed rice, Mahi-Mahi baked with a Chai Teriyaki Chile sauce over it and broccoli. Although it looks OK (I'm guessing to someone who likes fish, it really does), it smells pretty fishy. I think all fish smells too fishy. Anyway, so I spoon a bit of the sauce with some rice and take a bite. No fish on that bite either....and
YUCK!!!!!!!!!! I quickly grabbed a napkin and spit all of it out. It was GROSS. Exceptionally DISGUSTING. P1 was cracking up and jumped on the band wagon saying she didn't want to eat hers either. Did I blame the poor kid?! Eeeewwww. So I tell M I'm sorry, but I can't eat it and thankfully there was some leftover pasta from the night before so I decided to have that. We, P1 and I, shared it. M had already choked down his portion of fish. He said it wasn't the freshest piece (although it had been in the freezer the entire time) of fish, but he ate it anyway. He couldn't understand what my problem was....until he took a bite.

He said, as he was taking a bite, "I don't understand what the big BLAAAHHHHH" and he spit it out, not in a napkin, but all over his finished plate!! It was hilarious because M will normally eat anything! He said "OMG, this is ROTTEN".   I said, "I KNOW".  He said his piece wasn't that great, but this was just BAD. We estimated it had probably been in the freezer for a few months, so he's guessing it was freezer burned. YUCK.   I will have to say that the pasta was the best pasta I've had in a while!!!!

So ya, this mama won't be eating any type of fish again for a LONG time!!!!!

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

2009-10-06T14:45:00.001-05:00

I can't stand that song (Hollerback Girl- Gwen Stefani), but it's what I think of when I think back to P2 trying her first bite of fruit on Sunday night (10-4). I was making dinner and M decided he was going to give P2 another round of cereal and see how she does. After all, she IS a week older and things can change! Well, she actually swallowed it this time! We were all in the kitchen watching her again and she actually opened up her mouth when he brought the spoon near! It was very cute and of course we all cheered for her. She looked at us like we were crazy, but don't most babies?!

So then M got the great idea that she should try bananas. Not just the gerber baby food bananas I had in the pantry, but a REAL smooshed up banana. She gagged and then she did a little shake like "yuuuuccckkk". It was very funny. We were laughing so she started giggling and out it came, all over her bib. M tried to give her another bite, and again...gag followed by a shake of her body. Guess she wasn't liken the real bananas. We'll try them again in a week, the gerber B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Tinker Bell Invitations

2009-10-04T11:30:00.000-05:00

I really shouldn't be on here posting....I've got 30 invitations to make for P1's upcoming birthday party. I don't know why I can't be like other moms and just buy the pre-made invitations. That would be WAY TOO EASY. No, I've got to be difficult. The truth of the matter is I love being creative. Lord knows I got all the crap in the world to make them, but yet I drive myself crazy with the theme, color scheme, etc.... I do it because I love it. Buying invitations, although SO much easier, just isn't my style. I want my girls to grow up knowing that their mom was one of a kind that way. When I was younger, my mom use to make all my Halloween costumes and I thought that was the best. No store bought costume for me. I guess I'm trying to carry on the tradition. In fact, now that I think about it, only two of P1's costumes have been store bought. The rest have been made (not be me, I'm not THAT talented!). I guess I just like originality.

This is the year of Tinker Bell. The party is on the 24th of this month, and I was pushing for a Halloween theme (I LOVE HALLOWEEN, btw), but nope....princess wanted Tinker Bell. Since I have a Cricut (http://www.cricut.com/) and I have the Tinker Bell cartridge, I might as well use it and use up some of the supplies I have. M will love that. I think he secretely likes when I get all creative and use the junk I've acquired in the years since we've married! It makes all my purchases (ie, shopping sprees) seem worth it! So that's what I need to do today! I will post back with the finished product when I'm done!! Until then.....

She's really gone

2009-10-03T22:50:00.000-05:00

I didn't want to admit it, but I think Melody Simba is gone for good. Who is Melody Simba, you ask? She's my cat. Missy, Tweaky, Simmy, Pissy Missy, Brat Cat, Miss Meow, MelodyBimbitweeto, Mel Mel, Tweak, SimCat; all nicknames for my beloved cat.

Melody came into my life on accident. The year was 1994, I was 19. I adopted a kitten from one of the rescue orgs that frequent local pet supply retailers on weekends. Sassy was the kitten I brought home. She was gray and white and so sweet. She loved to cuddle and would let anyone hold her. After a few days, Sassy started having problems breathing. She was still perky, but just seemed to be having a rough time. One night, Sassy had stopped eating and her breathing was really labored. Before I could take her to the vet, she had died in my arms. I was devastated. I had only had her a week, but I loved this kitten so much. I think my parents were even a little surprised by how heartbroken I was for her.

One of the last sweet things my dad did for me was find an ad in the newspaper that read "Free Kittens" and we all took a trip to this woman's house. There I saw them.  I think there were 4, all multicolored and 3 were all wound up and crazy. Then there was this little one. She looked like a cute little tiger-striped puff ball.  She was it.  I specifically remember my dad asking if I wanted the fatter, more playful boy kitten (my dad was trying to steer me away from another 'sickly' kitten). Nope, my mind was made up. I wanted this kitten and her name was to be Melody (I was majoring in Musical Theatre at the time) Simba (it was the year of The Lion King).

On the way home, it was instant love. She was there through most of my life. 15yrs I had her. Through every boyfriend, heartbreak, move (that poor cat has moved more times than most adults!), marriage, and babies. Simmy was there. She was known to plop on command. Plop, meaning to flop on the ground and roll around on her back. She also did sumersaults over my feet when she was in one of her frisky moods. She was also very intune to my emotions. If I was sad, she wouldn't leave my side. Now, she wasn't always the most loveable cat mind you. There was a reason why we called her Pissy Missy. She is the only cat I've ever known who had a serious attitude when she wanted to. In my description of Missy, a person said 'cats tend to take on the personality of their owner'...looking back now, BITCH. LOL That's OK, I love my attitude, pissy, bitchy, McDonald's french fry, ben & jerry's, string cheese lovin' cat!!! She does sound like me. ;)

After the girls and I went to CA this summer to visit the family, she had been acting really weird. While we were gone, she had gotten out of the house (oh, she has been indoors all of her life) and was gone for about a week.  She had escaped shortly after we built our house and she was missing for a month. She came back though. So when she started acting weird, I thought she was just rebelling because she liked the taste of freedom in the wild. She would meow by the front door and I would let her out. A few hours later, I would hear her at the door and I would let her in.     Back to her acting goofy.... She started having accidents on the floor. In the 15yrs that I've had her, she's NEVER had an accident. Hairballs, yes...but deliberately peeing on the floor, nope. Well, she started to and it seemed every day i was having to clean up after her. It was really grating on me. In an effort to make her happy and to hopefully stop her from ruining our carpet, I would let her out more often and sometimes overnight. One night though, she never came home.

It's been over 2 months since I've seen Tweak. Every night, when I look out the back door, I keep expecting to see her stalking her way across the yard like I've found her before. She had a collar on, but it was the kind that breaks-away if they get caught on something and I found that in the yard after the last time she got out.

I've been told that when animals get ready to die, they know and instinctively wander away from home. I'm hoping that's what happened to Sim.  I pray that she's warm, safe, and gets all the french fries, ice-cream and string cheese she wants!! I love you Simmy and I'll see you again someday, brat cat! MEOW!

Life with our Two Sweet Ps

What is up with the Chinese Spam?!

July has been busy

Big Changes

Scrapbooking Retreat!

Hi Neglected Blog

Birthday Pics... A LOT OF PICS

Introducing WOOKY!!!

Has it almost been a year?

Three Words!!!!!!!

Birthday Preparations & Cake??

To My Asian follower

Pen vs Food....food won

That was quick

Sleep study minus the sleep

Krazy Kar= Whiz Wheel= BEST TOY EVER...Yes, I mean EVER!!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Groban, Your Sister is a Hussy

Beanpole

Somebody Stop Me!

The Almost Easter Bunny Pic

Comments

NEW Stephenie Meyer Vampire Book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Easter Approaching

My BIG FAT POSITIVE!!!

Snotty, Barfy, and Froggy.

Hello Blog. Long time, no see.

Pic Post of P2

Pen is 10 months old!!!!

Jake What is Wrong with You??

Piper-isms

Sweet Layla Grace

Ouch

Blogger's Guilt?

I'm Still Here

Happy Valentine's Day; What a weekend!

Melody, my cat

Just call me Martha

Picture Post!

Busy weekend & Awesome news X 3!!!

Note to Myself

9 Months (and 1 day)

Princess and the ENT

My Blog

My outlet

I was right!

Pic Post of P2

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

P2 Vs. Groban

Breastfeeding Sucks

Why I don't cook

Can't Catch a Break

Crawling is so Overrated...

My Ghosty Has A First Name, It's

Our ghosts prefer donuts

Sears, You Suck...Kinda

Unexpected Day Off

So Busy

Unbashful Pic Post

He Sings

Hello 2010

2009

Annual Christmas Photo

Merry Christmas

Follow up to the post below

I think I've finally cracked.

Single Mom

Surgery

P1, P1, P1

Close Encounter of the Santa-Kind

Introducing the BooBoo Lip

Thanksgiving

UnThankful, is that a word?

*^*&%*&%&^% TEXAS DRIVERS

Letter to Wells Fargo

November 24th, already?

I heart Stephenie Meyer

Busy Busy Busy

Cheetah Girls

November 2, 2009

^&%*&%&^% TEXAS DRIVERS