A Bump in the Road

So I know I told you last night that I have been busy and I would tell you tonight doing what. But, I am having some technical difficulties getting some things set up. So if you will bare with me, I promise there will be a giveaway starting tomorrow once I get everything set up. Thanks for your patience.

Weekend Fun!

Since I ended last week on such a down note, I thought I would fill you in our fun weekend. Yes, I know it is Wednesday, but I have been busy and you can find out doing what tomorrow.

Mr. B was actually off all weekend. So Saturday morning we took the girls to the zoo. Of course I forgot my camera. It was extremely hot, so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked, but we did see most of the animals.

There is a carnival that takes place every year in our hometown (next to the town we live in now). It is like a high school reunion, so we took the girls there and ate good ole' carnival food for dinner. They do have a couple of rides, so Miss L and I road the pink elephants while Mr. B held Little S screaming because she wanted to ride too.

And then, (I know how much can you cram into one day) our sitter came over and we went out with friends. I don't even remember the last time. We headed to a little place that is mostly out doors where a local band was playing.

Sunday was Mr. B's birthday. The same group of people we went out with the night before went boating the next day. So we took the girls to MIL's for the day and headed out on the river. I found out really quick that after 3+ years of being pregnant and breastfeeding you can no longer handle alcohol two days in a row. It is not like I drank a lot, but I am pretty sure the next time I drink will have weeks in between. We went up river and floated down for awhile and then stopped at the sand bar further south.

And then, (am I making you tired yet?) we picked up the girls and met the same group of people at Mr. B's favorite Mexican place. We all ate while not trying to fall asleep and drank lots of water. I know I am making us sound like lushes, it really wasn't that bad, but I think we are getting old.

How far should I take this green thing?

As I was taking the recycling box to the curb this morning, a thought popped in my head. (Crazy huh?) I have been trying to make sure every little thing that can go in the recycles makes it there instead of the trash. It is amazing how little trash we have been accumulating over a week since I have started doing this. One change that I have been thinking of making is switching to cloth bags for grocery shopping. But here is my problem. What will I separate my recyclables in? Yeah, doesn't make much sense right?
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Weekend Blues

Last night, I went home from work and my motivation was back at the house. Thank goodness, I was really getting worried. I did the dishes. Well, I unloaded the dishwasher just enough to cram the dirty ones from the sink in. I moved the overflowing baskets of clean clothes to the living room and actually folded them and put it all away. I did this while watching my new favorite show Hopkins. I am a little disappointed that this show is only a 6 episode series, but you can catch the previous episodes online. This show will have you crying one minute and laughing the next.

I should be really excited about this weekend since Mr. B is off, and it is his birthday. But I am still in a funk from yesterday. He wants to go somewhere for the weekend, but everywhere he mentions is unrealistic with two little ones. Maybe we will figure something out tonight, but I have a feeling we will end up sitting at home all weekend.

My Craptastic Day

Today just kept getting crappier and crappier.

Mr. B asked me at 4 am if I wanted to go to breakfast before he left to go back out of town at 9:30 am. Sure, that was nice, but I was just thinking of sleeping. So I got up around 8, got myself ready, the girls ready and packed a diaper bag. While he somehow managed to get himself ready. What a big boy.

A new breakfasty place just opened, so we were headed there, but the parking lot was full. And of course it was 9:10 am. He is on a schedule people. We must keep this in mind. So we headed to the closest Mickey D's. We are driving our separate vehicles so he can get on the road as soon as possible. No big deal, right? Nope, Wrong! We were at a red light next to each other. And one vehicle is making a weird noise. I thought it was his. But before I go any farther let me explain his hunk of junk car. It is 14 years old, has over 191,000 miles and makes all kinds of noises. And I found out on my way to work that his windshield wipers don't work. I know it is awful to make him drive such a monstrosity. But, on a regular work day he drives 60+ miles. We don't need a second car payment. The car goes, and he is driving it until it doesn't go anymore.

So we get to Mickey D's, and he is freaking out. Accusing me of doing something to his car. Umm, NO! I have drove this thing less than 100 miles. It's old, it makes noise, get over it. Finally I said just take my car, which he has had out of town with him all week anyway. While I finish eating and clean S up, he is in the parking lot trying to unhook car seats. You would think after 3 years, he would know how to do this. I go out and finish the job for him. And by the way, we drove from one end of town to the other. I never heard the car make the noise again.

After loading the girls up, we head to the doctor's office so that I can be seen for this lovely sinus infection that makes my head feel like it is about to explode every time I bend over. I don't know about you, but I hate going to the doctor with two kids in tow. But no trip to the doctor is complete without a trip to the pharmacy. Oh, and then of course we have no food, so we had to go to the grocery store. Little S was asleep before we even got there. So I loaded her up in the stroller, and she snoozed away. I have mastered the whole pushing a stroller grabbing a few groceries including milk and keeping up with a 3YO thing. Little S continued to sleep as I loaded her in the car, unloaded her at home, moved her to her crib and until 3pm. This is why she would have been the perfect 1st child.

My house needs so much attention. I haven't done anything all week, and had great intentions of doing it today. But once all my meds kicked in, all I could do was lay down and drift in and out of sleep. Because L was running all over the house. Oops, I mean hopping.

So I am staying at work until I know my kids are safe and sound in their own beds. Thanks to the best babysitter ever. And I know this day probably doesn't sound too bad, but it is also my favorite time of the month if you know what I mean, so everything seems worse than I am sure it actually is.

My Baby Girl

Spending these last few days alone with little s has been so special. She is the second child. The one you don't take enough pictures of, the one that doesn't get that one on one attention, the one who is so laid back and didn't have a mom hovering over her every second from the moment she was born.

Although crankey from her shots, she has been so jubilant with all the attention dwelling on her. Her little giggles fill the day. The snuggles and kisses have been too numerous to count. She has explored toys that are usually yanked from her hands the minute she discovers them. I have spent the time that she deserves playing in the living room floor. Showing her tricks she did not even know the toys did. This is such an amazing age, watching her learn and accomplish new tasks everyday. There have been very few cries and screams in my house the last few days. There is no big sis there to pester and pretend to be her mommy. But, each morning I have seen a confused and sad look on little s's face as she searches for her big sis, her playmate.

I will always treasure this time with little s. L was around this age when I got pregnant with little s. So these last few days have brought back memories, but also made new ones.

So until tomorrow evening, I will continue to put the laundry and dishes aside and continue my at home vacation with little s. We'll play and sing and dance and read and pretend that it is just the two of us. Because that second child can sometimes be outshined by the first.

We tried and tried for that perfect picture.

Precious Caylee

It keeps getting worse. Things don't look to good for this precious little girl. Stories like this break my heart. I know, as a mother we all have our bad days. Days that we just want to run out our front door screaming. Days we spend a few extra minutes locked in the bathroom. But I have never once had an ounce of desire to harm my child. I'll admit, I have put my child screaming crying in her bed and walked outside where I could not hear her for a few minutes to cool down.

I am not saying that this mother is guilty, but she knows something. And I think the grandmother does too. How could you allow you child to be missing for weeks and not go to the police. I don't care who is threatening you.

I just hope that as a mother, as an adult, and as a human being that you would seek help before acting in rage. As a parent, we are our child's advocate. And I will lose any job before I left my child with someone I did not 100% trust. When the truth comes out about this little girl, I pray that it is good news.

Mommyjuvinated

It is 1:10 pm. Our sitter will be here at 2:30. I am still in my pajamas. I don't really want to get ready today. I've spent hours sitting in the floor and playing with little s. I have been a huge slacker when it comes to getting things done around the house. I have new bows to list on my website, but I seem to be in no rush. All of my laundry baskets are full with clean clothes that need to be hung and folded. It is like Big L left, and my motivation went with her.

I keep telling myself that this is like a vacation. I should be Mommyjuvinated (I just made that up, don't you like?) when she returns tomorrow, and all the other can wait. Let's just hope she brings my motivation home with her.

Can you tell what language she is speaking?

My MIL has little S tonight while I am working. This is the text message that I just go from her,
"Wee gobitywickwee, means Louie get in here!" Louie is their toy chihuahua. I'm glad someone can finally understand her.

My Little Snuggled Bug

"Hey Sis, I think you are supposed to use that cover on the other end."

Today after 4 shots and a lot of poking and prodding she wasn't happy with, S was a little fussy and not wanting to take her nap. After holding her for a few minutes, I put her down and let her cry it out knowing it wouldn't take long. After a few minutes of crying and a few of silence, I went in to find her like this.

ETA: I removed the cover from her head after I took the picture. Don't worry she isn't suffocating.

Thanks for all the LOVE!

Wow! I am shocked by the amount of traffic I have received this weekend thanks to AFRo. She is my new hero. Having an empty house this week, I have lots of time to visit all of your blogs, so be expecting me.

Speaking of an empty house, this is lonely. I beg for peace and quiet. I finally got it, and it is creeping me out. It hasn't even been 12 hours yet. I expect things to pickup tomorrow, since S has shots and it is the first day of classes at the college I work at.

Many of you have said that you wish you found me before my bow giveaway ended. Don't worry, I have enough ribbon to make a bow for every little girl in America. It is a little bit of a fetish. I can't pass up a cute spool of ribbon. So I am sure there will be more giveaways in the future. So you are invited back.

Time to Clean

They're gone! I am off to clean because the two messiest people have left my house, and it is going to stay clean for 3 whole days. I have several things I want to tell you about, but I must clean first. So I will be back soon.
P.S. I didn't even cry when L left. May have something to do with the fact that she wanted to take every item she owns with her and drove me nuts this morning.

Yay, AFRo!

Congrats AFRo! You are the proud owner of a princess ponytail holder. Thanks for being the only one who bothered to enter. I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to win anyway!

Missing Girl

This story really scares me. I know more details will come out in the future, but I can not even imagine or seem to wrap my mind around it as a mother. Read it and let me know what you think.

Slowly, I am letting go

My big girl L is off to spend half a week at my mom's house next week. My sister is taking off work and will be there, so I am really not worried. But I do feel as if I am letting something go. Not quite sure what.

Mr. B is working out of town all next week, which happens to be my busiest week of work in the entire year. Great timing! Little S is due for shots on Monday, so I came up with the cray idea to let London go on her first staying with grandma trip. She is going to be six long hours away. She is super excited, but I am not sure she knows what exactly she is excited about.

I remember being the same age when I went to stay with my grandparents by myself. I cut half my hair off one side of my head when I was supposed to be taking a nap. Hummm. Wonder why I may be a little nervous? L truly is my daughter, and she is wonderfully blessed with my personality.

Since L was born my mom constantly nagged me to let her take L home or come get her without me. I have always said no, because she just was too attached. Christmas of 2006, when visiting my mom's, my sister and I went to a movie and left L home alone with my mom. She was exhausted after just 2 hours alone with her and has not asked again for her to come stay. In the same trip, my mom also left real berries (the ones you were always told not to eat) out on her coffee table for decoration. Well guess who found one and ate it. L of course, and she broke out in red blotches instantly. I rushed to the drug store to grab some benadryl. While I was gone, my mom was on the phone and L started peeling wall paper off her dining room wall. Can you see why I am a little nervous?

Too Cute Not to Give One Away

I made some super cute bows on ponytail holders with tails yesterday. So, I made two of my favorite, the princess one, and thought I would give one away in blogland. So simply leave a comment under this post. I will randomly select a winner from the comments on Friday at noon. If you currently do not have a blog, make sure and leave your email address so that I can contact you if you win. If you like these, there are more on my website. So check them out!

Blogland, Answer Some Questions

I have some blog questions. Maybe some of you out there in blogland can answer them.

1. How do you find the number of subscribers there are to your blog?

2. What is your one piece of advice in getting more readers and comments?

3. How often do you blog and what would you consider obsessive?

4. How many people have you told IRL about your blog, and why did you tell them?

Feel free to leave a comment and answer one or all of these questions. Thanks for helping my curiosity out.

Trying Harder

I am not having the best morning. Lack of sleep has accumulated over the last few nights. My nerves are shot, and being patient isn't really happening right now. L just came to announce to me that she needed to go potty. This was about the hundredth time she came to tell me something in the last 5 minutes. She is perfectly capable of going potty all by herself. So my reply was, "Just freakin' go potty." Yes, I know not really nice. But her response got me. "Mom, my pee is not freakin'" Ok, so this got me thinking, and I am trying not to be such a beotch today. Thanks L!

Sprucing Up the Place

I have been glancing at Tip Junkie as it pops up on my reader everyday. They are hosting a huge giveaway this summer. I have yet to actually enter, but today's feature caught my eye. LeeLou offers free backgrounds on her blog with super easy instructions for installing them. I thought my pathetic looking page could use some sprucing, and I am all about some free stuff.

So if you aren't a Tip Junkie regular, head on over and check it out. And Let LeeLou know how much you adore her designs.

Better than a Nanny Cam

We have a wonderful babysitter that comes on the afternoons that Mr. B and my work schedules conflict. She is constantly playing with the girls and always finds new and exciting games for them. I really could not ask for a better sitter ever.


Some days, when I leave my camera out, I find pictures on it of the girls that I did not take. The babysitter is actually taking pics of the girls while they are playing. It is really neat to see things that they are doing when I am not home.

And thanks to our sitter, I actually have a lot of pics of the second child. You know the one who is scarred when they look back through pictures of their childhood and can't find any, only ones of their older sibling.


I thought I would share some pics I found on my camera the other day. My dad brought cupcakes over for the 4th, and the girls must of gotten them for a snack the other day while I was at work.

Happy Birthday, Not.

Did you happen to watch Jon & Kate Plus 8 last night? I was appalled. First let me say, I am not a Kate hater like the ones who exist on the Internet. Usually I feel for her, but last night I could slap her. I know, who am I to judge. I don't have 8 kids, and you could put me in a mental hospital if I had 6 the same age.

But back to last night, the sextuplets turned 4. They requested not to have a big birthday party, but rather a family day. So after church on their actual birthday, they went to a bakery and got to decorate cupcakes. What 4 year old would not love this? But Kate complained the entire time about getting messy. Why did she take them to a bakery in church clothes if she wasn't going to let them participate? And who doesn't let their kid eat a cupcake on their birthday? They were asked if they could decorate two, one to eat there and one to take home. (Maddy and Cara got to eat theirs at the bakery) But Kate said no, only one to take home. And then half the kids didn't even get to eat theirs because they didn't get to eat their dinner. I really hope these kids don't remember this birthday because of bahumbug Kate.

ETA: The more I have thought about this the more disgusted I am. I remember a previous episode in which Kate says something along the lines of we don't have time to video tape things. So by doing this show we are documenting our lives. I hope they lose this tape, because I would hate for any child to see last night's episode, and it be their memory of their birthday.

I'm not Freaking Out...yet

My big girl L is at her first bunking party with her cousins. I swear I am pretty cool with this and not freaking out. Maybe just feeling a little sorry for BIL and SIL for their 2 am wake up call.

Future Juvenile Delinquent

I am looking for a boot camp for my 3 year old. Any ideas? I have got to stop this behaviour now. Who ever decided it was the terrible two's had yet to experience 3's.

This child wakes up whining and goes to bed whining. She does not stop ever. She cries and screams to get her way, and I really have never enforced this behavior. Usually I do not do what she wants until she stops the whining. She is into everything that she knows she should not be in. And I am not just talking about the innocent getting into things, she does it just to annoy me. She has also started to not tell the exact truth. Suddenly her sister does all the wrong. She tries to hide things from me that she should not have, like her sister's binky, but she is not very good at it. She asks a minimum of 500 questions a day. And her new favorite one, "Why?" Only she just repeats it and repeats and repeats. I tell her why only to hear "Why" again.

I am scared I have a future juvenile delinquent on my hands. So any suggestions would be great. By the way, I am really enjoying the little amount of talking S can do. I have no idea what I am going to do once they both are talking non-stop.

Mr. B Please Come Home

Mr. B has been working out of town two days a week for the last three weeks. This involves a night away from home. He just can not understand why I am jealous of his uninterrupted slumber in a hotel room all by himself. I could only wish for a night like that. He has only missed a hand full of nights since L was born, so this has been a pretty big deal for us. But tonight when I got home from work, I starting thinking there maybe some pros about this whole situation. So lucky you gets to read my list.

Pros:

• I can get any kind of take out on my way home for work and only have to get enough for me.
• Bath time all to myself. No interruptions for my DH with perverted comments. (Come on, you know yours does the same thing)
• I can watch whatever I want on TV.
• I get some bonding time with which ever little one is still fighting sleep when I get home. And no husband to make me feel guilty for not spending this time with him.

Cons

• 2:15 am. The time that one or both girls gets up and thinks they should move into my bed. I am the only one here to handle this miserable situation.
• An empty bed. Hmmm. Problem solve. Child fighting sleep, move her in there. But wait, they are both crazy sleepers and will wake me up a minimum of 10 times.
• No one to sucker into getting up with the early bird, L.
• No one to watch TV with.
• The resentment that I feel when I am trying to get two whiny kids back to sleep at 2:30 am. I mean he is sleeping peacefully in a hotel room, alone. (At least he better be.)

Yeah, the cons definitely outweigh the pros. To all you single parents out there. I don't know how you do it. I must give Mr. B a little more credit sometimes.

Hair Cuts x 3

Today I took the girls for hair cuts, since I was getting one. Well, I had actually planned just to get S's bangs cut, but L couldn't be left out. So she got her bangs trimmed as well although I really want them to grow out. So here are some after pics

Wow, you can actually see her eyes.

And we better not forget about princess L.

The 3 of us!

Male French Braids?

Once in awhile, I see a person and really want to go up and ask them if I can take their picture. They would make excellent blogging material. I saw said person on my way to the bank this morning.

A few streets over, there was a group of people congregating around a lime green, old car. I really know nothing about cars, so I won't even venture to guess on the make, but I would say it was a least 30 years old. In this group of people, my eye was immediately drawn to a tall, lanky man. He had a french braid. And not just any french braid, one that ended at the top of his neck with a scraggly pony tail.

I try not to be judgemental, but sometimes it is hard not to be. When are people going to wake up and realize it is 2008, not 1988. IMO, the only people who should be allowed to wear french braids are little girls and old women. If you are male this is never acceptable.

Now don't you wish I had enough never to stop and ask to take his picture. Just so that you could also be witness to why french braids are not acceptable for men.