Boys!

Alaina, Kayla and I went to the mall Sunday morning. She was such a good girl, we went down and got her a small ice cream cone at Runza. We sat down beside a table with six older high school boys sitting at it and I had two trains of thought run screaming through my head at the same time.

the first train was . . .

I'm too old to tell if they are good looking anymore. The only phrase that comes to mind involves the evil adult phrase "What a nice looking boy!" (Blech!)

And the second train . . .

Its going to be so much fun when Alaina is old enough to be embarrassed by her mother in front of the opposite sex.

But for right now she just chatted happily while the boys tried to ignore the lady with two little girls at the table next to them.

Bugging me?

Alaina and I had a quick entomology lesson this morning. This HUGE praying mantis was hanging from one of the parking signs when we pulled into daycare. I scrambled to think about what I could say that would be a good fact about the praying mantis, but I could only think of one thing when I saw it.

And that fact is something I won't share with my child until much later in life.

So I picked one other thing that I notice about bugs.

Look at how still he is.

She's a girl mommy. (How did she know?)

She's sitting so still because its chilly out. When it warms it, she will move away.

Yep and then she'll turn into a boy.

and that is where I lost control of the conversation.

Oh, Alaina, girls don't turn into boys.

Yes!

Nope. Girls stay girls and boys stay boys.

I'm not going to touch the variations that modern society have made to that statement either.

It's amazing how many topics I can find to avoid in three minutes.

Biter Brenneman

Alaina had an incident report yesterday. She bit another kid. Apparently he was pestering her so she decided that turning around and biting him was the best solution for peace.

And the best part?

She bit him on the stomach.

Anyway . . .

We had an interesting adventure in eating out last night. I've learned its almost easier to find fast food that is MSPI friendly than restaurant food simply because in fast food places everything is cooked in oil, restaurants use butter.

We went to Granite City and I jealously watch Jeff eat a blue cheese bacon burger while I had pork with pork au jus, some sauteed potatoes and a delicious combo of sauteed almonds, garlic, tomato, onion and spinach leaves on top of the pork. I am definitely going to try making that topping at home!

Wordless Wednesday

Jeff's lesson . . .

So last night was my last night working during the week at Younkers. I was at first excited when I came home because Alaina was in bed already. Jeff was wearing his usual I-just-got-left-home-alone-with-two-children-under-the-age-of-five look, but it was anything other than a usual night for Jeff. I asked Jeff last night if it was a good thing that I'm quitting.

I'll let you guess his answer after I tell you the story of how his night went.

After I left for work, Kayla slept just long enough for him to feed Alaina and himself. Alaina had an english muffin with grape jelly which she somehow got all over her hair meaning she would need a bath on a non-bath night. Then Kayla woke up about three seconds into Alaina's pony ride with daddy.

Three seconds after Jeff picked up the crying Kayla, Alaina announced that she had to go potty. Jeff set the baby down in her boppy pillow (still crying because he couldn't calm her down) and took Alaina to the bathroom, where she had just pulled her pants down when her "potty warning" expired.

I can just see the look on his face when Alaina peed allover the floor, can you?

Of course Alaina slipped in her 'accident' so Jeff undressed her and deposited her in the tub and proceeded to clean up the potty with paper towels. Meanwhile the baby was still crying and continued to cry until I got home.

Do I even need to ask if you can guess what his answer was?

And is it any wonder the baby slept all night without waking up once?

Green with Envy!

I am so jealous!

Jeff is home right now . . .probably sleeping away! He has two extra weeks of vacation that he has to use before the end of the year, so he's taking a few extra days off around the holidays, and the next two mondays.

So he has three four day weeks!

SO NOT FAIR!

I'm really lamenting the fact that I am required to use a full week of PTO to start off my maternity leave. I understand that it makes people think twice about taking a short term disability leave unless the REALLY need it . . .but can't they make an exception for maternity leave? When you are having a baby, you really need that extra week for sick time for you and baby!

Anyway . . .

We had a busy weekend. If I didn't mention before, Kayla is growing like a weed, which is evident in the fact that she now takes 5 oz bottles to daycare. Needless to say, I'm now struggling just a little bit harder to meet her needs. That plus the fact that she screamed for most of yesterday with what I hope was the end of the tummy tantrum brought on by the evil piece of cheese I ate Thursday.

Saturday we drove up to Omaha for a birthday party for a one year old. It was nice to see a few faces I haven't seen in a while, but I appreciated going home. A short nap was taken, and then Jeff took Alaina to Champions Fun Center for his company's family night.

I sent the camera with them and Jeff sat down to show me all the picture he took, only to realize he'd only taken three, one of which was of a friend and their child.

I'm going to guess Alaina consumed about two cups of sugar while out with daddy in the form of cotton candy, snow cones and even more. She came home wired to the hilt, streaked in dirt, sporting a fresh bruise on her knee and had blue cotton candy stuck in her hair.

Evidence of a great time!

I can't wait to take both girls next year!

Crazy Friday.

I was so frustrated that I yelled at both of them. They didn't even see it coming.

I just wanted things to move a little faster, but the oven was taking forever to heat up and I needed to leave for work.

So I yelled. Actually it was more like I hollered.

Right before I tossed it back in the fridge.

HA! You thought I was talking about the girls!

Nope! Much to the questionable relief of my sanity, I'm talking about the roll of Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough that I didn't have enough time to cook over my lunch hour, even though I desperately wanted a cookie.

And the next victim? STILL not one of my girls. It was . . .

A can of pop.

Needless to say I was a little frustrated that I hadn't had time to finish my soda over lunch, so it is still sitting on my table at home.

Waiting and deflating.

I guess I was the definition of Freaky Friday today.

Half a cheeseburger into paradise . . .

I get an F for the day.



I've been a good girl. Really I have. I've printed off menus with allergy information to use for Runza (can't eat anything good) and Wendy's (very MSPI friendly!) to have in the van. I grabbed Wendy's after putting in my two weeks notice at my part time job and grabbed a 'safe' 1/4 lb burger meal.

Now on my cheat sheet is says that a "1/4 lb burger with everything" has no soy and no milk. But, apparently the folks working the grill include cheese when you get a hamburger with everything and unfortunately I didn't notice until I was halfway through the burger.

How do you not notice cheese? I have no idea but to illustrate the silly things that eating on autopilot make me do, here are a few examples. In the last month I have -

-Popped a bit of cheese omlet off of my husbands plate into my mouth only to spit it in the trash as I realized what I'd done by the look of horror on his face.


- Did the usually of touching a bite of Mac n Cheese to my lip to test the temp for Alaina and having to get a wash cloth to wipe my mouth off because I couldn't lick it off.

- excitedly joined a co-worker in the lobby when Panera dropped by unannouced with free samples only to remember that I can eat NOTHING from Panera. (Sad march back to my desk akin to the 'walk of shame.')

So for a brief moment I actually debated going to the extreme of putting my finger down my throat. A brief moment I said! Followed shortly by the thought, in for a penny, I should raid the fridge and binge on milk/soy products and freeze my next pumping or so of milk.

Both thoughts were dismissed as horribly stupid.

And did you like how I snuck in that I finally quit my part time job OM? I already miss the discount that I don't use. ; )

Reinventing the pencil . . .

Do you ever feel like you're having one of these days? . . .

When NASA first started sending astronauts into space, they realized that the ball-point pen would not work at zero gravity.

A million dollar investment and two years of tests resulted in a pen that could write in space, upside down, on almost any surface and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300 Degrees Celsius.

When confronted with the same problem, the Russians used a pencil.

(Seriously . . .you can buy this!)

I need more sleep! I feel like I could spend hours looking for a pen to write with, not thinking to use the pencil in front of me. . . .

Oh, and if you want to go to a website that has items that make you smile, giggle, our just bust out laughing go to.

http://www.perpetualkid.com/

My favorite things are the muppet lunch boxes and the gnome-b-gones. I mean who doesn't want a little metal demon in their yard forever caught in the act of dstroying a pink flamingo?

Coupons, colds, and criminals!

That's it! I'm going to jail! I'm going to be locked up because . . .

I ruined a library book.

Okay, so I didn't ruin it, but I spilled water and it got on the latest book I have from the library. It soaked in 1/2 inch from the end of the page the entire length of the book.

I hope I survive the punishment.

Kayla is getting a cold. Bless her little heart, but she has the sneezes and that cute little cough that babies get just before it gets really bad.

And I invite you so share in my shopping joy!
I wore a hole in my post baby jeans I bought when I had Alaina so I finally got around to using my birthday gift card for JCPenneys. I had a coupon for $10 off and it was a buy one get one for $1 sale.

I ended up with 2 new pairs of jeans for $7.

Yay!

Unfortunately, all I can think about is how if I would have completed the survey from the shopping trip a week or two ago to get Alaina shoes, I could have saved another 15%. Oh well! Maybe I'll forget after I wear my new jeans a few times!

Long weekend.

So the results from Kayla's appointment are . . .

She has the same 'yeasty beasties' that Alaina had, even though I tried my hardest to keep her neck folds clean and dry.

If you didn't hear me talk about it with Alaina, it seriously is a yeast infection just like athlete's foot. In fact the doctor recommends antifungal foot cream to treat it.

Good thing Jeff gets AF foot cream for free from work.

And the shots went okay, I nursed Kayla as soon as we finished and then she slept the rest of the afternoon. But the calm gave way to the storm and she hasn't slept through the night or slept much during the day since.

Friday, was however, My day!

My best bud Mrs. S and I headed up to get Miss O from the airport. She's back from CA and spunky as ever. The best part of the trip was our little adventures in the Old Market. We went to a bar and grill to eat, but we figured out it was pretty much just a bar after we got our food.

I tried to find something MSPI safe, and this is how the conversation went.
"Do you know if there is milk or soy in the buns?"
"No, I don't know. Tell me what you can eat and I'll tell you if we have it."
"I can eat chicken."
"We have that. How about a salad with chicken?"
"Okay, I'll take this Blackened Chicken that says it is on a garden salad. But no cheese or croutons please."
"We don't have cheese or croutons on our salads."
"What does come on your garden salad?"
"Black olives and tomatoes."
"And the menu says eggs."
"Nope! We don't have eggs. What kind of dressing? We have Bleu cheese and ranch . ."
"I can't have those. Do you have a vinagrette?"
"Yes we have red wine."
"Sounds great!"

I paid $8 for a lump of lettuce, tomatoes and olives (which I don't like), and the vinagrette he was talking about? It was just plain vinegar.

I won't be going back to Billy Frogs anytime soon, for any reason.

But it was fun laughing with Mrs. S and Miss O about it.

Hooray! She's two!

Kayla is two months old today!

Its hard to believe how different she is from Alaina. I'm enjoying this stage, but I'm so excited to see how she changes in the months to come! I'm excited for the squealing stage and to start solid foods next month. Yay for cereal that looks like ivory soap flakes!

And to top of the joyous occasion. She gets her shots . . .

Hopefully she feels alright after the deed is done. I'm usually the one who's bonkers.

I did it all for the discount . . ..

I am ashamed to admit it . . .

I'm still working at Younkers. I signed on for 3 hours a week.

But I just can't give up the discount. After I passed the one year mark last month I get 25% off of all clothes, including clearance. And when I use the coupons with it . . .

Yay!

Tonight is my first night back so we'll see what Jeff thinks about me staying at work when I get home . . .

Is it hard?

Everyone who has finally noticed that I'm back at work asks the same question.

"Is it hard leaving your girls everyday?"

There is no easy answer because

1) Yes is is hard to leave my girls at daycare instead of getting to watch them everyday.

2) It is nice to know that Alaina is getting good social exposure to other kids and learning in a structured manner that it would take me months to plan out let alone execute.

3) It is nice to challenge my brain with things at work and interact with adults during the day

But most of all, my working allows us to continue to live in our big house. Jeff and I sat down before we had Kayla to look at our finances and see if I could stay at home.

You know how everyone says there is always a way? Well there was a way for me to quit working full time. We could . . . .

a) have me work part time when Jeff is at home 20 hours a week, but Jeff and I would never see each other and the girls would only ever be with one parent at a time. Not to mention I would never get to do anything on the weekends.

Or

b) move out of our house back into a very small apartment with barely enough room to sneeze without running into each other. And doesn't that sound fun?

Anyway, Kayla will be two months this thursday which will be very exciting except when I have to take her for her immunization shots.

Yuck.