Holiday Symbols

Jeff and I decided that we would be putting the tree up this year after a taking a break last year. And since we are finding ourselves in a better monetary situation, we made the decision to spring for some 'shatterproof' ornaments rather than the classic 'shards of fun' glass ornaments that we usually have.

We've been lucky enough to have Aunt Stacey's tree for the last several years. Lucky because it is a beautiful pre-lit tree.

Saturday night, (after the obligatory mourning for the Husker's loss . . .) I wisely put up the tree so all that we needed to do on Sunday was decorate.

Picture this lovely domestic scene on a Sunday morning:

We hang the garland, quickly discovering that Mommy didn't get enough packages of garland to sufficiently cover the tree.

F#@$^&&$#!!!

Now for the new ornaments! I open up the boxes and tubes of 74 shatterproof glittery red and gold orbs to find that some asinine person has decided that tiny little strings would work soooooo much better than hooks. So now Mommy is sitting on the floor, cursing quietly to herself as she ties strings for 71 pretty ornaments.

F#@$^&&$#!!!

71 of 74?

I only tied strings for 71 of the 74 because apparently the 24 gold ornaments weren't cool enough to come with strings for each ornament and I was too cranky to hunt down some matching strings in my sewing stuff upstairs. So the last 3 are banished to storage until next year.

F#@$^&&$#!!!

Now picture Alaina running around attempting to tell us all exactly how this is supposed to go.

NO! Not the shiny ones just the Glittery ones!
Kayla! Stop Throwing the ornaments!
Please hurry up tying those strings Mommy!
KAYLA! Stop touching the ornaments!
Mommy can you lift me up to put the high ones on?
Kayla! Don't touch THAT!
When do we put that star on the top.
MOMMY KAYLA'S TOUCHING THAT AGAIN!!!

F#@$^&&$#!!!

And Kayla, for almost the entire time I've been tying silly little strings, has been tossing the ornaments like she's trying out for the Olympics' first Bean-the-Cat event.She'd win the gold for sure.

F@#$%#$@#$!!!!

And as I get up to get the star I realize,I bought all these pretty GOLD decorations,

And my star is SILVER.

And as crazy as I am, that just will NOT do for our tree.
So we brought home a pretty new glittery red star when we got the rest of our garland.

F@#$%#$@#$!!!!

You still hear that cursing in the background? What do you mean you thought it was ME?!?

Nope!

That cursing going on the entire time, is Jeff. Because if there is one thing in the world that irritates Jeff in this world more than GLITTER, I haven't found it yet.
Jeff is a glitter magnet. If there is a glittery object in our house, Jeff will be wearing glitter to work for 3 weeks. The poor guy could double as a pixie.

(A very manly pixie, my dear. You wear your glitter well.)

And now for the Moment of the day. Oh dear weak of heart friends and family, avert your ears.

As we are decorating the tree Alaina casually says,

(Take a deep breathe and wait for it.)

Hey Mommy, boys have a tongue between their legs.

And now you can begin laughing your ass off.

But this post has gone on long enough. I leave you with this fun little tidbit, and I will post the conversation I had with Alaina about this tomorrow, or as soon as I can.

BLOG TAKE TWO

I had a morose blog typed up, but it was [insert appropriate negative comment here]

I can sum up the lame-ness of it in two sentences:

I couldn't figure out how to post my pretty Christmas pictures.

AND

Kayla and I have been sick.


MOVING ON!


I popped over to a new blog that Stacey found. http://www.hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ and am feeling much perkier.


So I will leave you with this Tale of Two Sisters.

Imagine being a twin . . . . . .

One twin is a home body, likes to cook, has kids, a minivan, cats, and a closet that would make Tim Gunn cry.

The other is a bit of a fashionista, loves clothes, Starbucks, and actually has a social life. She actually reads style books written by Tim Gunn.

Needless to say I am twin one.

But thanks to my sister living with me for a while, I am trying to mend my ways.

Actually . . . . I'm trying to look better because I'm sick of that 'You are soooooo lame' look that she delivers to me along with phrases like "Burn that when you take it off today" and "I am veto-ing that barrette in your bangs. What are you 12?"

I'm starting from the inside and working my way out because sister dearest works at Victoria's Secret and is my instant snitch for all things on sale. In the last 2 month I have purchased 3 new bras, had 2 given to me by sis, and bought about 30 smoking pairs of VS underwear.

And that's where the problem begins.

Have you ever had "Garment Amnesia?"

Garment Amnesia: def When a person doesn't recognize a garment purchased recently because they forgot what it looked like in the first place. See catch phrases like "I've been looking for this" and "Why did I ever buy that?"

My sister and I tend to lump laundry together and wash a mix of hers/mine clothes every time we do laundry. She, however, doesn't suffer from Garment Amnesia. My sister can look at a garment from 6th grade and tell you if it was hers or mine.

So tell me, dear friends, how ridiculous is it that I have to ask my sister to help me sort my laundry because I can't even identify my own underwear?

Tim Gunn, please know that I love you and am working on my fashion issues. . . .

Recipe

We had a very full weekend, including a Christmas photo session which I will intentionally forget to mention until a later date, due to the happy tone I an striving for in today's blog.

How to whip up a fun weekend in fall:

Start with a night of dressing up in halloween items that mommy bought on clearance.
Add a touch of cookies to decorate throughout the week. . . .


Sprinkle in some dried leaves . . . .
And toss in a couple of little girls to get some super big smiles!


(In hindsight, we should have used this recipe to get good Christmas pics, but the leaves may have posed a problem. . . )

Mad as a hatter!

"What's going on in your life?" you ask.

My second favorite answer is I got a promotion at work! Jeff and I have been planning all the ways to spend all that extra cash I will be earning like. . . yachts and private planes.

Just kidding, but I'm totally psyched because I haven't had a promotion since I started and due to the economy getting a raise has been pretty tough, so this is pretty big news for us.

And what has taken me so long to post?

Well let me see if I can sum up in one word what I have been doing with my last month.

Halloween.

While Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday over all. Halloween is the holiday that I was built for . . .

Because I LOVE costumes.

Do you know about me and theater? Have I mentioned it yet? I am a pretty poor actress and singer, so I didn't get to do much on stage, not to mention I pretty much sucked at hitting my cues to enter and leave . .we won't mention the one time I was spacing out in the green room and completely forgot to go on stage. (Don't worry, I didn't have any dialogue that got dropped.)

But I did fall in love with this lady.

Donna

(Ritchie Valenz has begun crooning in the background)

Dear Donna taught me everything I know about doing this . . .

No! Not dressing in drag! Costuming!

While Mom and Grams get all the credit for teaching me how to sew (yes I did leave my high school home ec teacher out on purpose . . .) Donna was my college theater professor of costume and makeup design. Due to her fun and laughter, when I wasn't with my boyfriend off campus, I was in her shop stitching away merrily.

And once a year I let that theater minor loose on the world and wind up with something a little like this . . .

The Mad Hatter!!!

This is me downtown competing in a costume competition on Saturday.
And yes I did place, I came in fourth after Han Solo riding a Tonton, a Chilean Miner, and a Husker *ahem* violating the Mizzou tiger (yucky, but it was well done.)
Currently there are probably 100 plus pictures of me surfing around the intranet and I'm sure several videos of me dancing like a loon
oh, excuse m I mean I was "Futterwacking" like a loon. When in Wonderland . . . .

And now here is where I brag. I made almost the entire thing myself. Yep, the hat. the jacket, the gloves and eyebrows were all me. The pants were modified from Goodwill, and my sister actually had the socks and boots in her closet. Between my makeup design starter kit and my sister's collection of eye shadow, I didn't have to buy a single piece of makeup.

And the gift card that I won wasn't anywhere near what I spent. But I always figure that some of these pieces will be reusable, so they have been retired to the costume closet upstairs until needed again.

I did save a bit of time for my girls' costumes.

Sadly the camera was running out of batteries and I was running out of patience, so these pics are all I have.

And, alright, I admit it!

I purchased the Tink costume! (I just heard Donna's gasp of outrage from across town . . .)

I just couldn't find the right color of stretchy fabric to make a tink costume that would last for at least 2 years. And if I'm going to make a princess/fairy dress for Alaina, it needs to be built to fit for a few years because she loves to dress up.


Jeff was very fortunate in that I didn't have time to make a costume for him, because he would have made a nice Peter Pan. (Ha ha!) Don't mind Kayla, I swear she's just screaming "Take the picture already!!!" : )

I swear if I had the time, I would costume everyone I know for Halloween.

and really that's about it. I've signed us up for holiday photo sessions this weekend so I've resigned myself to rushing around getting haircuts, dresses and everything else for the little ones before Sunday.


And with that planned, Jeff and I are looking at zero relaxing weekends before December.

*Sigh*

I don't know why I ever think that I can get anything done between Labor day and Christmas.

So Suh me . . .

Jeff and I had a great football weekend. We went to a Husker bar and watch the Huskers eek out a rather unsatisfying win and then rounded out the weekend by watching Suh and the Detroit Lions have a harsh loss dealt to them by an old man who can throw a football really well with the Vikings.

But just to shake things up a bit, we did this all in Minnesota.

Yep! That's right! A husker bar in Minneapolis! I have to admit, its actually a lot cooler than a Husker bar in Nebraska, because you don't have to stake out a table three hours before kickoff and you can actually get a drink served to you in under 5 minutes without having to flash the bartender.

Not that I've EVER done that!

And then we attended the Lions/Vikings game here . . .

It was AWESOME! except for the pesky fact that the team I was cheering for lost. Its rather humbling to be surrounded by thousands of people who are NOT cheering for your team. Quite the change for a Nebraskan.

Jeff's cousin took the chance to rub it in.


I look forward to next year when the Lions have their actual quarterback. It is soooo on Primo! And that's about all I have for today . . . I tried to take pictures of Alaina and Kayla playing in the yard, but my camera hates me, so they just turned out blurry. What a shame because we had a little picnic and played "guess what Kayla's pointing and babbling about this time?" Alaina does a pretty good job of narrating in between Kayla cooing and chatting.

What's new?

I'll tell you what's new. After battling with our old computer for months on end, we finally went to Best Buy and got a new computer. Maybe I'll feel move compelled to blog with our shiny new computer.

Next up on my list of wants and desires is a nice camera that I can take stellar pictures with like Mindee or Pioneer Woman, but since I'm really hard on cameras, that day probably won't come for a while.

But since I have taken a few pictures, I'll share what I have, rotten or not. Here's my small landscaping project. As you can see I took advantage of the torrential downpour that interrupted my project and took a picture of my progress. There will be about 20 pastel tulips and 40-50 crocuses here come spring next year if all my work pays off. And that tacky looking downspout coming out of the siding? That's the former homeowners great idea for a dryer vent.

I guess I've been setting a good example, because the girls latest hobby is cleaning. They each get a towel, a spray bottle, and permission to hose down any surface that is glass or shiny plastic. Next on the list of fun things to do is go to the library. I spend most of the trip chasing Kayla around and trying to prevent her from eating crayons, but Alaina has a lot of fun picking out 4 books. She gets to pick out four books and then mommy picks out a few more for her to read.

That rule came about because I have to admit that there are some really weird children's books out there, and I want to make sure that I have a few good selections to read her as well. Here's my little lovelies rocking together is Uncle Scott's rocking chair. I had to run and get my camera, and I wish Alaina would have given me a smile, but Kayla would only sit still for one picture.

I just couldn't resist taking the photo of the girls because it reminded me of this picture that Mimi took of my brothers. Big brother offered to rock little brother to sleep when Mimi was took pregnant to do the job herself. (Did I tell that right Mimi?) We also had friends over for the great Husker victory last weekend. Alaina was ecstatic that her friend 'Phie' was able to come over and stayed for 2 hours past the football game while her parents went to the Husker volleyball game.

I had a small taste of what life was like for Mimi as I bathed and got four kids, ages 6 months to 4 years, ready for bed that night. Baby K went first, then Phie's brother. And while I was putting him down, Phie apparently got sick of waiting for me to get her bath ready, so she shed her clothes and got into the tub and played with the bath toys until Alaina told Daddy that he needed to fill the tub for them.

A good time was had by all.

Yay! Look I posted!

Yesterday I got the bring idea to take the afternoon off to finish up a little planting around the house. Jeff and I have slowly started to tackle landscaping around the house and it is looking pretty barren around the house.

Of course the day that I decide to work in the dirt is the day that the heavens decide to open up and rain on and off all afternoon. I gave up after getting 200 bulbs in the ground with 40 to go. Actually I gave up because I didn't know what to do with the last 40, but since I bought them, they are going in somewhere.

Saturday, Mimi and papa came up and we took Papa to the football game. Its always a good day when the Huskers win in Nebraska. And when I say 'we' I mean Mimi and I stayed with my girls while everyone else went to the game. We had a great time at the Children's Museum.

Maybe I can post some pics tomorrow. . . .

I'm too tired from getting up and attempting to kick my sister's butt at the gym this morning.

Confession time again

Dear blog-gods,

it has been over a month since my last post so I beg forgiveness and offer the following update to appease you . . .

Life still refuses to settle into a steady rhythm at our house as well all struggle to march to a different drum but the beats are at least starting to sync up a little. Alaina is getting more and more into her role of big sister everyday, instructing Kayla on how to best please big sister and enjoying it immensely when she gets the desired results.
Kayla is practically running around now and I've slowly caught on to the fact that childproofing was not a factor when Alaina was a baby which is why I'm struggling with door latches and keeping the carpet cleaner than the table.
But lets get a few pics out now for the photo starved . . .
2 Weekends ago, we headed up to the zoo. We arrived and departed in good time, spending 3 hours pushing and pulling one stroller and one wagon, because we learned on out last trip that a wagon is too close together for the girls, and one stroller guarantees a hurting back from carrying one of them around for an hour. At least I wizened up and ordered a canopy for the wagon.
Since we arrive within 1/2 hour of the zoo opening, we have a pretty easygoing trip for the most part. Alaina enjoyed the penguins and Kayla hollered for all she was worth at the gorillas that were getting a morning treat of apples and oranges.

And while that wasn't much of an update, my camera has decided to run out of batteries, so I'll just give up and post a short update.

Wishful thinking is hazardous to my health.

Be careful what you wish for . . .

I wished for a reason at work to have to travel to Cincinnati to visit our sister office and see all of the people that I only get to see once every 6 months to 2 years.
Results: I ended up attending a week long class in Cincinnati, which is a bit longer that I would have liked to be away, but it was nice to see everyone.

Then I wished for a day off around the 4th of July.
Results: I ended up working 50 hours the week of the 4th

Then I wished for a restful holiday weekend and was hoping to get a lot done on my day off on Monday.
Results: The girls each had the stomach flu over the weekend.

And finally, I wished that I could get completely caught up at work from the two previous stressful weeks and take yesterday off for myself.
Results: I ended up with the stomach flu and had to use two days work of paid time off to stay home and gaze longingly at food.

But now I'm back on track.

Hopefully.

The time has come for a reaffirmation to happiness on my part. So I'm tackling the things that I can change quickly first.

Check list:

1. Get a haircut.
2. Go to a tanning booth just enough to get rid of my 'vampire chic' pale skin.
3. Go to the clinique counter and try some new colors.
4. Start working out.
5. Plan meals more efficiently for the girls and myself
6. Tidy up in the evenings.
7. Steal my sister's clothes.

And I already got my haircut, so its time to get rid of my deathly palor. Because while it may be cool when you sparkle in the sun (Have you seen Twilight?), pale skin is not cool when it causes you to be asked if you are tired/feeling sick every day.

A picture is worth a thousand words

It has been a while since my last confession blog entry and I keep telling myself that I'm going to get better, but I'm pretty sure I'm lying. Living with my sister in the house is getting easier, but living with Jeff on a different shift is not. I miss having family time in the evenings, but Jeff misses it even more. We're pretty much to the point that I'm not allowed to even say the words "I miss you," because he can't stand it.

But on to happier things . . . .

Kayla turned one on Friday. Like her sister, she's going to be walking on her own soon, but not quite yet. She dearly loves chasing the cats around the house and testing their patience as well as her sister's.

Recently she has discovered the sheer joy of climbing in and out of her sister's rocking chair and the ability to put on and take off necklaces.

Today I just stared in disbelief as I watch her plug and unplug the bathtub. I had no idea she actually paid attention to what I was doing.

Life is good for this little one.




Big sister is really enjoying being four. She has the memory of an elephant which makes me glad that I've never promised her a pony. She's one smart little cookie.

She doesn't listen to me one bit unless she likes the answer, so I've already lined up Sissy to be her go-to for grown up talk. Of course that is going to have to be for fashion and makeup advice too since I'm hopeless unless you want to talk sewing or costume talk. As me about seams and the fit of a garment, but ask Sissy about the color and style.

I suppose its too early to sign her up to be a future president or lawyer, but she has some mad negotiating skills that would do any politician proud, not to mention she is rather adept at side stepping questions. I've gotten pretty good at asking the "Right Questions" to get to the truth.

And still all I can do is marvel at how different they were in their first year.

Alaina was a rather contemplative child.

She was more than happy to sit and watch me wrap presents at Christmas time when she was little. I'd put a bow in front of her and she'd rub it between her fingers and toss it around for 30 - 40 minutes until she had in memorized. She'd explore every crevice of a new toy, flipping it over and over to check all of the screw holes and seams until she was satisfied that she knew exactly what could be down with it.

She was like Winnie-the-Pooh sitting there just thinking thoughts and pondering things. She loves new words and figuring out they fit into her speech. I call her a little parrot because she can repeat back just about anything you say to her perfectly.



But if Alaina is like Pooh, Kayla is Tigger.

She's a bouncing ball of energy.
She's not happy if she's static.
If you are sitting down, she's crawling all over you.
If you are standing up, she's trying to figure out the most interesting way to wrap herself around your ankles or climb your pant legs.

She can't stand 5 minutes in the baby saucer that her sister would cry to be put in. I never even childproofed my home with Alaina because she had no desire to get into any cupboard or go near outlets. I'm debating buying a Roomba automatic vacuum because Kayla has to stick EVERYTHING she finds in her mouth, where as Alaina cried when I tried to stick her fingers in the frosting on her first birthday cake.

And while I knew that my kids would be different, I didn't quite realize how different they could be.

So if I have another child, will I get a melancholy Eeyore, a wise Owl or a modest piglet?

And for the story of the day:

Alaina is rather adept at using the bathroom all by herself, but every now and again she gets distracted and we have to request that she speed up the process because she gotten distracted by trying to reach the bottom of the sink with her toes or trying to get on the toilet with her legs crossed. Her natural curiosity just won't let her do things the easy way.

And so I went to hustle her out of the bathroom this last week and found her sheepishly looking down and avoiding my eye.

Never a good sign with Alaina. Her unwillingness to provide answers leaves me no choice but to deduce that the wetness was supplied by a less than sanitary source . . .the toilet. Of course asking the obvious questions will get you nowhere with Alaina, so you have to circle around to the truth.

"Alaina, were you playing in the sink?"
No
"I didn't hear the tub. You didn't try to turn on the tub did you?"
No
"Did you dip you hair in the toilet."
(No answer, so I must be getting warmer.)
"Did you finish going to the bathroom?"
Yes
"Were you looking in the toilet?"
Yes
"Were you sitting on the toilet when you looked in?"
Yes
"Did you bend you head down?"
Yes
"Did your hair touch the water?"
(No answer)
"Alaina, did your hair tickle the water a little bit?"
Yes (That worked because it implied that something fun and not punishable occurred)
"What were you looking at?"
Myself in the water (aka - reflections)
"Well toilet water is yucky, so next time just let me know right away so we can wash the germs out of your hair."
Okay

I let it slide that her hair was rather dry for having took a toilet bath, so I subtly removed all the towels and put them in the dirty laundry. It wasn't worth the effort to try to get to admit which of the four towels hanging up she had used to try to dry her hair and hide the evidence.

Clever girl.

Twinspeak

Jeff, Sissy, Alaina and I were watching "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" and Sissy was looking up the voices of the characters on her laptop, because we had a few character voices that we couldn't place.

The mayor of Chew and Swallow was voiced by Bruce Campbell, and my sister couldn't think who he was. I always recognize his name, let alone his voice, so I tried to think up a movie or show that he had been on. And the first reference that popped into my mind had me giggling.

*giggle* You're going to love this . . .

What was he in?

*Giggle*

C'mon!

You are going to LOVE this reference. Kevin Sorbo. Hercules series. Character named "The Green" something.

*now giggling, too* I soooo know who you are talking about! I can't believe you remember that! I can't believe I remember that!

And then Jeff walks in to find us giggling like high schoolers and slugging each other in the arm.

I love my sister, because instead of going for the obvious choice of the Burn Notice series that is currently airing on USA or the Evil Dead movie series that practically made Bruce Campbell's career, the only reference I can think of that she would understand is one of the cheasiest television series created to show eye candy in the guise of barely clothed gods and goddesses.

hee hee.

Update #2

Jeff and I juggled parenting responsibilities last week because Kayla was home sick Wednesday through Friday with a fever. I'm personally very happy that she wasn't throwing up like Alaina was the week before, so I tried not to mind the sleepless nights.

Friday, Jeff's cousin's came down from Minneapolis and brought their one year old son to stay with us for the weekend. The little man's birthday was in February and I had a present that I never mailed waiting for him. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of him in his snazzy new Husker jacket, but needless to say his daddy was thrilled, and his mommy, the gopher fan, was a little less thrilled



Jeff's family gave in to impulse a couple of times this weekend and would just stop in at random which is usually okay, but since Kayla had been sick and I didn't get much sleep, I pretty much disappeared into the depths of the house whenever the doorbell rang.

My brother and his family from Denver stopped by for a quick birthday celebration since they won't be back until after my daughter's birthdays so we had a quick meal and gift exchange. I'm always happy to see my niece because she is so funny and makes me giggle. She reminds me of Alaina when she was just figuring out that everyone but mommy would laugh at her when she was being ornery. And then give her hugs, kisses, and treats. (Ahem, Papa!)

And after we ate . . ..Cake!

Alaina was very excited to blow out the candles all by herself.

The candles are supposed to have flames the color of the candle base, but unless you get close enough to singe your eyebrows, its hard to tell.

Kayla was a little unsure about the cake so first she took a little bite.

And that tasted pretty good, so she had a little more . . .
And ohhhhh! It was soooo delicious!

Update #1.

Now that the shadow of sickiness has passed over our house, we are just about ready to get back to our regularly scheduled lives. . . .but I'll put a few updates up on what has happened. This even predates my last post, but I wanted to get the pics up.



Jeff and I had the bright idea to take the 30th off to go to the zoo with Alaina and my sister, but fate decided to step in at 1 am that morning and I spent the next 5 hours comforting Alaina as she continued to vomit every half hour.



Not a pretty picture.



After she went 6 hours without a follow up incident, we decided to take our chances and headed to the Zoo for the afternoon. Alaina was really tired the entire trip, but she did enjoy seeing all the animals.



The trip was complete with orangatangs that were obsessed with their anatomy, pacing tigers, feeding the fish, and diving pengiuns. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to go to he jungle which is mommy's favorite, but we bought an annual pass just so we had excuses to go whenever we wanted.



I got some great pictures in the Garden of the Senses.

Poor baby

Kayla was officially off of breast milk as of Monday . . .meaning I'm no longer grouchy and moaning about pains in my chest and already enjoying the feeling of waking up without sore spots on my ribcage from wearing a bra all night.

But yesterday Kayla got sick. And when I say sick, I mean sick.

She's running temps of 103 and won't eat anything but yogurt because her throat hurts. As soon as I picked her up from daycare I phoned the doctor because she felt hot enough to cook an egg on her forehead. So for now its just a virus.

But knowing that its just a virus doesn't make me feel any better when she can't sleep because she's so miserable. It doesn't make me feel an better when I have to hold her all night because she just wants someone to make everything all better. It doesn't make me feel any better when the ibuprofen I had to drive to 2 stores to find isn't helping bring the fever down.

And so here I sit ready to start my day at the office and all I can think about is going home and holding my baby so that she knows that mommy loves her.

That and the possibility that stopping breastfeeding led to her getting a virus.

Either way I'm probably the droopiest looking girl in the office today.

Bite me.

So Mimi decided to come up and take Sis and I out to eat yesterday for our birthday.

The food was delicious and Jeff appreciated that Sis and Mimi handed over their left over meals for him to consume. But it was noted that the desserts we brought home were not included on his menu.

The little ones joined us and Alaina was very excited to pick her own dessert . . .but Kayla was glad when we headed home because she was tired. So after her bath and book, I sat down to nurse Kayla before laying her down to sleep. Alaina came into the room and startled Kayla, who whipped her head around to see what was happening.

Not a big deal except she got four pretty teeth in the front of her mouth with which she's been practicing a great deal. So while she was nursing she put said teeth to use before turning to see what big sis was doing.

I yelled quite a bit.

Which amused Kayla, so she leaned in and bit me again.

I ordered Alaina out of the room in my not-so-very-nice mommy voice, settled Kayla down for the night, and grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer to shove down my bra.

This would be the proverbial straw that broke the nursing-cow's back.

If I can get Kayla to go for formula bottles from me when she gets home from daycare, I'm debating going cold turkey. I'm trying not to bemoan the fact that I made it just shy of 11 months nursing which is truthfully about what I did last time. But I can't wait to say goodbye to the chaffing of having to wear nursing bras to bed, nursing pads that make me feel like my chest is sweating all day, and praying that my breast pump lasts until Kayla's b-day.

The only thing I miss is how great I look in a push up bra, even though they are almost painful to wear while nursing.

Smile Pretty!

I love getting pictures of my girls. However I hate buying them.

Photographers today take such wonderful pictures, and then they create beautiful collages and arrange them on the adorable pre-set mattes. Then we have to decide who get copies of what picture.

Which never goes too well, because 5 seconds after I order, I regret getting too many of one and not enough of another.

But I LOVE JCPenneys at the mall. They do a terrific job and the last time that I had to wait a long time they gave me some free photos to make up for it. Plus I've almost got the relationship that I need to have with the photographer down as they take pictures. The best 2 options are peekaboo and the tickle game.

To get the girls ready for pictures, I practice playing peekaboo from a distance at the house a few times the week of pictures. I try to use myself and toys to give more variety. It is best not to practice the day of pics or the game is no longer fun when we get to the studio.

When you get to the studio, ask the photographer where she wants the baby to look and I position myself accordingly. Peekaboo is a good game if she is supposed to be looking near the camera because I can hide behind the photographer.

The next effective game is the tickle game. Most parents have a noise that they make when tickling or before blowing raspberries. Mine happens to be a mix of a snarl and a pig snort. (Yes I know that I must look terribly attractive doing this, but my husband can still manage to kiss me without laughing so it works.)

I practice making the sounds before and after I tickle the baby. Then, I make a big production of starting from far away and getting closer while making this noise. When I start to get a smile as soon as she hears me, I've got the set pattern to use in the studio.

And the results?

TADA!!!

Detroit, here I come.

And my fate has been sealed. Last night Jeff's friend Todd called him at work just to ask "How does it feel to be married to a Lions fan?" I said all season that I would be a fan of what ever team drafted him and the results are in.

As soon as Mr. Suh's name was called, I started plotting heading over to the mall to get my official NFL Lions hat.

The best part is that Jeff is so excited he thinks that I should get an official NFL Detroit Lions Jersey for Suh. But his excitement is purely selfish.

Mr. B thinks that simply because I have picked an NFL team, that he will get to watch more football during the season.

Silly man.

SOAPBOX POST

I've got a terrible head cold and I can barely hold a coherent thought in my head. And yet . .all I can think about is one thing.

I know exactly what I'm going to say to my daughters about smoking. What else is there to do other than saying "Don't do it?"

Well here's my approach to one of "the talks":

Ask yourself why you would even want to try smoking. Are you just curious? What are you curious about?

Are you curious that you might like it or that it feels good?

So lets say you try it and you like it. Now what? Now you get to smoke some more. And your clothes start to smell, but you only notice for a few days. Because after that, your sense of smell starts to go downhill too.

And what about all the money you will spend on cigarettes? You just as well start flushing dollar bills down the toilet or lighting them on fire. Because it is a waste of money.

Will you try it because you know you won't smoke much and that you can quit? Well it is a slippery slope my darling dears. Once you have had more than one cig, consider yourself screwed. The urge for a cigarette could sneak up on you at the weirdest times, most of which will be kindled by an act that Hollywood has chosen to associate with smoking or by a co-worker heading out for their hourly smoke because they are hooked worse than you are.

And by that time we've hit the BIG STINK. Get used to sanitizing everything that you own, because no matter how you try to resist, that nasty stink of body odor and smoke is going to start to show up in your clothes. You may not have the odor all the time, but you can bet your favorite jacket will, and probably your car since that's the first place that you start smoking in other than the bars.

So before you try it, ask yourself what you are signing up for. Because I've been there my friend. Smoke free for probably about 2 years. And why do I say probably? Because I didn't pay attention to when I quit. I just slowly cut the habit, one cig at a time.

So I don't remember when the last smoke was . . . but I know that at least once a month I really think that it would be nice to go out for a cigarette. It is such a pain in the ass to have a craving that could kill you. And while chocolate, cheeseburgers, and wine may not be the best things on the planet for you, the act of having one every now and again isn't directly linked to cancer.

So before you feel pressured into trying smoking. Ask yourself . . .


Why the hell would I want to try something I don't ever want to find appealing?

And this is where my mind wanders when I'm on cold and allergy medicine.

Five years ago . . .

Five years ago today I was,

Primping my hair and hanging out with several of my best girl friends.

Smiling at the beautiful daffodils that were everywhere.

Giggling about the many uses of double sided duct tape.

Fuming about the groomsmen mixing up their tuxes so that they spent too much time playing Goldilocks and the 3 bears. (This vest is toooo small!)

Celebrating the fact that I got to have this small simple ceremony with so many friends and family.

Smiling until it felt like my face muscles were frozen into a grimace that couldn't possibly be a smile.

Listening to a song written just for me by the man I love.

Walking down the aisle with my daddy.

Having the best time ever in a Limousine with friends.

Dancing til I dropped!

And in the midst of it all, getting married.

Now for the list of a few things that I never want to forget about my wedding:

1) Fittings, Fittings, Fittings. If you are going to have anything made for your wedding . . .you must have measurements taken, have a fitting of a mock up or a pre-hemming fitting. Then after any tucks or adjustments are made, you must try it on again. Also , practice hugging lots of people in your wedding dress to see if you are going to wear a tube top on account of the sores around your arm pits the next day.

2) The best shoe is no shoe. I wore isotoner slippers that I threw away later when I got married.

3) Simple may be good, but well planned is better. Just because I wanted things simple, doesn't mean there was no planning to do.

4) No matter what you plan, something will go wrong.
- Someone might talk to the DJ and change your plans for the first dances (AHEM! Yep it happened) so print and give them a list at the actual reception.

5) Put everything in one box and put it in a car that will be going to the reception as soon as possible. (I forgot the gorgeous Knife and serving set my sister gave me at a shower to cut the cake and the toasting glasses for the champagne)

6) Don't get too attached to any one thing that you used for your wedding, they are just things. Knowing that it might get lost, I made my own veil and petticoats because $200 seemed an awfully steep price to pay for a scrap of tulle or a bunch of it shoved under a dress. And ditto for the dress. I had a friend who's new husband accidentally threw her dress away after the wedding. She cried buckets, but can now laugh about it.

7) If you and the bridal party are going joy riding in the limo before going to the reception. FEED YOUR GUESTS FIRST! They consume less alcohol and are very happy when you arrive versus the alternatives.

8) Open your gifts alone. (Suggested by my mother and it was a great idea.)

9) Be considerate of your family when you plan the wedding. (Unless you don't want it to be a family affair.) I'm mean and think that flying to Key West and inviting people to pay $3000 to come watch you get married is mean. If you are going on a destination wedding, either go by yourself with 2 witnesses, or stay home so that your family can share in the special day. Don't expect 50 people to shell out that kind of cash.

10) Get a video. We had two sisters take amateur video footage and they make us a cheap DVD of the entire event. It was wonderful, cheap, and we laugh at the family interviews every time.

Did I miss anything?

She's here!

I swore I was going to make Sisi take a pic with me to post . . . but I haven't gotten there yet.

I have been warning my co-workers for almost a month now that my double is moving home, but I know it isn't going to sink in until they run into her and she look all blank and tells them she's not me. . . .and I love it when that happens!

It was a good weekend,
Alaina had her last swimming lesson . . .and I couldn't get her signed up for the next level because all the classes were full. (Nuts)

Mimi came up to stay with us and helped watch the girls so that we could get our house cleaned up and vacuumed before Sisi moved in.

And then the 2nd best part of the weekend.

YO-YO MA! I have never been so excited to see a Lied center performance. But I have one comment for the Lied crew:

Please dim the lights for all performances. I know that maybe Mr. Ma likes to have the house lights up to interact with the crowd. But I was distracted by the flipping of programs and the fidgeting of other audience members the entire time.

And another suggestion:

Please escort anyone who's cell phone rings out of the theater. That's what you get for "thinking" that your cell phone was on vibrate. For a performance that you paid over $50 to see, turn the dang thing off.

Anyway . . .

Sisi and Papa arrived home during the performance. Unfortunately they weren't able to unpack the truck because Baby K took one look at Aunt Sisi and decided that she was my stand in until I returned home.

Papa and Sisi told us all about their trip to Graceland and handed out gifts.

One for Kayla and one for Alaina. Alaina got to pick which one was hers. She chose the one with the belt, but last night while playing with them, she pointed out that she had two new bears.
I reminded her that one was Kayla.

She pondered it a bit then announced.
"My bear doesn't have a guitar, the red bear is a bad bear because he won't share."
Kinder-translation: "Cut the guitar off the red bear so I can have it."

She's too crafty for her own good.

Anyway, Kayla has been sick, so we took a trip to the pediatrician yesterday just to make sure that it wasn't the same ear infection we just got rid of last week. The trip to the doctor involved Kayla having to get her ears scraped out because she had so much wax in them the doctor couldn't see her ear drums.

Is it any wonder that by the time I got Kayla back to daycare, she was more than happy about me leaving her to play with toys and friends?

And the fun moment from last week. I told Jeff that is 20+ years I can pull this picture out and cry before Alaina gets married. She's in a wedding stage so once a week she announces her plans to get married. I had to make her a veil because I couldn't find mine, so here she is all dressed up to dance her wedding dance with her daddy.

Awwwww . . . ..

The Dressmaker

Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations - Faith Baldwin

Faith sound like my kind of girl. Well the dressmaker is almost here to do some major alterations in our home. We found out Monday afternoon that Jeff starts his second shift job on the 29th and Aunt Sissy will arrive to live with us this Sunday. Those are the big adjustments.

The rest have just been little nips and tucks along the way.

Everyone in the house is finally well, even Pixie. Its amazing what a round of antibiotics can do. Apparently the siezure-like spasming was atributed to a tooth infection and the piddle was from a bladder infection. Of course, the antibiotics also had the lovely side affect of Pixie vomiting all over . . . but at least that is easier to clean up than piddle. With the unexpected joy of Jeff getting a raise, we've been dreaming a little bit bigger and spending a few more dollars. Alaina has probably benefitted the most from this as she has gotten new decorations for her room and was able to get a new princess doll and the Princess and the Frog the day it came out on DVD.
Alaina now equated me with Tiana's momma that make beautiful princess dresses by the dozen. I have now be informed of the fact that she doesn't have a dress like Princess Tiana and I need to make her one. I'm not sure how I ended up with a princess in the house, but at this point I'm just glad that she only calls herself a princess when she's pretending to be a specific Disney Princess.Kayla in the meantime is a clapping, crawling, cereal eating, two toothed wonder. She loves to make music, laughter, and splashes in the tub. And speaking of splashes, Saturday will be Alaina's last swimming lesson with Mommy. After this, she's in the 'Pike" class which Mommy's and Daddy's aren't invited to attend. (Yay!) It's been a wonderful time, but having that lovely bouyant weightless feeling for 50 minutes every Saturday make me feel rather heavy and sleepy for the rest of the weekend.

Work has become stressful as I strive to impress my new boss . . .I've always worked with Miss L and readily enjoyed it, but now I'm doing double time trying to work my way toward a raise.

And with that all said . . .my banana bread is ready to come out of the oven.

10 days down, 21 to go . . .

I have declared the month of March a hazard zone. I now have a cold and the cat has been in the posession of the vet for over 24 hours. Everytime I call they just want to look at 'one more thing' and then they will call me with an update.

At this point I'm way past no news is good news and am just waiting for the call that I'm going to be a single cat home again.

Bleh.

If the March 'In like a lion, out like a lamb' is true for personal lives, I'm going to win the lottery by the end of the month!

Confession time . . .

Too much going on to mention right now, but I promise to catch you up here are the highlights:

- I got pink eye last week
- Kayla got an ear infection and spent the night screaming about it the very next night
- Cat peed all over the house at least one of them did (Did I ever mention we got a new cat?)
- Spent 40 minutes trying to pump for baby at lunch with no results TWICE last week (ouch)
- Jeff is getting a cold
- Chased down both cats when they snuck outside


And then just to top it off, I spent an hour and a half last night muttering about bad kitties while cleaning up cat piddle using a black light. Then at 4 am I felt REALLY guilty about being mad at the cats because I found out why she had been peeing everywhere.

At 4 am while sleeping on our bed, Pixie (new kitty) had a seizure, rolled off the bed, and pottied everywhere in our bedroom.

BUT WAIT! There's more!
I did my best to clean up the piddle, and went back to bed, only to sleep through my alarm. I was already 15 minutes late for work when I ran out to the truck . . . and it didn't start.

SOOOO I walked the 3 blocks to work. Trying not to cry, and muttering the entire way.

Pixie will go to the Vet tomorrow because i didn't want to stress her out by walking her there in our tiny travel cat case.

Ch - Ch- Changes!

And all of the results are in. My house is due for some extensive changes.

Jeff has jsut gotten a new job that will move him to second shift, so I get to experience all the joys of being home alone with the girls every night.

But wait! There's more!

A certain someone that I love very much is going to be living with us for a while, its not my news to tell, but since they HAVEN'T BLOGGED IN A MONTH, I get to make very not-so-subtle hints about their news. And while I'm sure they aren't going to step in and help me with bedtime stories and baths every night, it will be nice to have someone around when my sanity comes into question.

Another positive thing is that one of the main reasons that Jeff applied for this job is the increase in *ahem* monitary benefits that will come to our household. Jeff and I have started to think a little bigger about the plans for our house, since we may have the opportunity to actually have the cash to make the necessary changes.

But the little spending habits have already begun. To celebrate, I took Alaina to the store and we bought Kayla a "johnny-jump-up" which she doesn't like at this point, and Alaina got a new princess for her mini princess collection. In fact, we splurged and got the set with the prince and the horse so now all of her princesses won't have to wait in one line while the Wicked Queen dances with Prince Charming, Prince Naveen to the rescue!

Favorite conversations.

One of my goals for the new year was to be a happier person in general which has for some reason led me to be more reflective about life. I was reading Mindy's blog (hey family have you met Mindy? Mindy, family. Family, Mindy.) and she posted about working with a group comprised mostly of women. I got to thinking about the joy of dealing with women, and one thought led to another until I was remember the conversations I used to have with Jeff's friends that we used to hang out with on the weekends.

And I started to giggle.

A bit of background to this tale. Jeff and I hung out with a group of 4-5 guys and since he was the only one with a steady girlfriend, I was allowed to tag along. But because I was the only female in the group I sometimes had some unexpected roles to fulfill.

Like being a "wingma'am." I admit to assisting a few of the guys in getting phone numbers by pointing out their good qualities when needed to get a phone number, but I drew the line at facilitating bringing a girl home from the bars.

And I was called upon often to be the expert on all things 'woman.' However the conversation almost always went like this. . .

Boy: Katie, why did she do that?

Me: Because girls are just flat out crazy.

Boy: No really, why did she do that?

Me: Really? Because girls are crazy! Seriously you don't believe me? Let me explain it to you. That girl that called you to say that she was going to be out downtown with her friends? She wasn't really inviting you to meet up with them. I know you think she told you she was going out for that reason, but she wasn't. What she's doing is laying the groundwork to either
a - brush you off if she runs into you because she's 'with the girls'
b - setting you up to be her last chance hook up for the night.
That's really about it. Because if she really wanted to run into you, she would have told you what bar they were heading to and when they were planning to be there.

Boy: But that doesn't make sense. If she didn't want to see me why would she call?

Me: Didn't I just tell you? She may want to call you after, but don't expect anything. She's just a thrill seeker and she won't call you after this weekend. Couldn't you tell by the fact that she was wearing a miniskirt and ugg-ly boots out while its snowing?

Boy: I still don't understand.

Me: When are you going to learn that you aren't supposed to?

And I'm smiling to myself just thinking about all the lessons that I taught that started with the phrase "because girls are crazy." And I include myself in that rank. But I just want to say that while I explain to guys that girls are crazy, there is a fantastic path of thought that leads to most of the seemingly crazy logic that women have. I am fascinated by it, but I have given up trying to explain it to ANY man, because they don't appear to have the capacity to decipher most if it.

Pending confirmation

The phrase above is pretty much the two words that describes my life at this moment. Two of the most important people in my life are pending confirmation for life changing announcements that will change the way that I function indefinitely. I'm very excited and nervous for both of these announcements to happen because whatever they are . . .I feel stuck at the moment.

Hence the lack of posts for 13 days (gasp!)

I promised myself I wouldn't look to see if I've ever went that long without blogging. But I'm still here and maybe I'll get around to posting about the other things that have been changing in my life like:

Our new cat
Alaina's swimming lessons
Kayla (everything is new!)
Good things at work

But the only thing I want to say at this point is to brag with pride that I've finally broken the habit of stopping at McD's for breakfast for coffee that I don't like.
Why would you get coffee that you don't like?
I'm glad you asked. It's because I crave unsweetened liquid creamer and they recently started only stocking sweetened creamer at work.

I broke the habit by bringing in a little lunch sack with a container of half and half in it everyday to work. And my boss has happily been invited to use it because she feels the same way about sweetened creamer.

How silly is that?

The writing on the wall.

I've been a little depressed about having to hand back my wonderful secret service hearing aides on Tuesday. I felt like yelling out "Damn it Chloe!" in my best Jack Bauer voice about 20 times a day, but then everyone would have looked at me like I was crazier than usual.

Okay, so that's no excuse for not blogging, but its all I've got!

Last night Alaina went into the hallway just before bath time and was quietly playing by herself. I just assumed that she was taunting one of the cats, when I heard Jeff say, "OH ALAINA!" in his best 'I'm disappointed in you' voice.

I hustled over to see what the problem was and I just about hyperventilated as I tried to contain my laughter. Alaina was sitting in the middle of the hallway with markers all over the floor and had been drawing on the wall.

ON THE WALL! Jeff was just hitting his stride of "I spent a lot of time painting these walls and making sure they looked nice" and "I'm going to have to paint . ." when I walked over with a wet wash cloth and wiped the wall clean.

Then I turned to Alaina, who was putting on her best "I'm going to cry because I got caught" performance, and cut her Oscar-worthy tears short with a simple, "Alaina, we don't color on walls, that's what your beautiful coloring books are for. Go into the bathroom and we'll start your bath" Then I ran upstairs to laugh until I cried because my daughter did something as cliche as draw on the walls.

Of course, I had to get a few laughs at my husband's clueless-ness about the wonders of washable markers. I tried to take a picture of the marks, but Alaina hadn't gotten far enough for them to show up on a picture. Darn.

Say What?

I went to the hearing specialist Monday and had my hearing tested. It turns out that I have a significant hearing deficiency in the middle frequencies. The specialist explained that this type of hearing loss isn't because of damage, but is usually hereditary and present from birth. So my questions is . . .

How long have I been yelling at people when I talk????

Seriously, I'm all of 28 years old, need a hearing aide, and the specialists said I've probably had this since birth, but that it must have recently gotten worse, hence the visit how instead of before. Tuesday (yesterday) they provided me with some trial case hearing aides and I can't believe the difference! Its not like I couldn't hear at all, but what I can hear with them is soooo much better!

I'm saddened by the thought that I should have sucked it up and went to a specialist earlier that this, because my boss and my husband both notice a difference in the volume of my regular speaking voice.

Now the FUN part of hearing aides . . .

Any one want to guess how much they cost? I told Jeff they were 'Hella Expensive' and he guessed $500. I told him he wasn't taking the 'Hella' into account. These bad boys are $3000 a piece. And insurance only covers 10%. If I sign up for my own hearing insurance through my office, they will pay $500 each for the 1st year, $750 the second year, or $1000 each if I stay on the insurance for three years.

So I have a 3 year plan to improve my hearing . . .but until then, you'll just have to deal with me speaking a little louder and asking you to repeat yourself every now and again. But at least I know there is an end in sight.

In the meantime, I may cry a little when I turn these bad boys in. I feel like a secret service agent.

p.s. for all the tech lovers out there, I can buy a wireless remote for these and connect them to my cell phone or MP3 player and route the sound directly into them . . .no earbuds or blue tooth required!

p.s.s Welcome to the blogging community Mimi!!!