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.