yesterday

Yesterday we went to the library to have toddler time. We went once last year with Cheyenne and Hallie but it was kinda rough...Addi was only about 1 1/2 at the time and would rather run around than listen to anyone tell her anything. I quickly gave up.

A year later I realized just how much she really needs to learn how to be a big girl (sigh) and sit in a class, so off we went to the library. She loves the library on a regular basis, we go once a week to play with blocks and puzzles and get me a book to read while she watches Phineas and Ferb for the 8 millionth time (she still makes me sit by her the entire time...unless I tell her I have to go potty...then I sneak away to do laundry or something until she notices that it really does not take that long to pee and beckons me back). By the way, if your kids like P & F, you really should buy the music CD. Addi jams so hard in the backseat when we listen to it. I don't think she knows what "like a ninja of love repealing down from above" really means, but she sings it like she does.

Anyway, toddler time. We went last week and she loved it. She was still a little wander-ie, but good. Yesterday she was so crazy cute I could not handle it. She told me to sit in the chair and she went far away from me to sit on the carpet with the other kids.

I sat there watching my little girl learning about dinosaurs and interacting with the teacher like she was in real school. Crazy but my eyes quickly filled with tears thinking that she is getting so big. I know, what a wimp hu? But when did she get big on me? I had images of her as a 5 year old heading to Kindergarten, then as a 12 year old heading to 7th grade, then as a 15 year old entering high school. How did this happen, and why did she choose to wear that to her first day as a sophomore I thought.

Then she came over after it was over and asked for her binkie and my 2 year old came back to me again.

I guess everyone goes through this, but it was crazy to see her get so big right in front of me. Sigh.

Just a small post...

I hate building a house. It is super lame and you all should avoid it at all costs. I remember when they said we would be living there in August....then it turned into September, oh for sure September...what is the date? Still shacking up with my folks. I love them so very much and am so very thankful for their generosity, but have you ever shoved an elephant into a shoebox....that is what it is like trying to shove all my daughters, Ronnie, and my own stuff into the space that we have. I get through the nights by imagining all the ways I will hang up my clothes into our new closets....someday.

My last post said we would be in by now...Nope. Evil builder lies they say to make your spirits high so they can crush it.

Anyway, everything else is good. Ron is almost done with football for the year. It is almost always sweatshirt weather which is excellent for hiding the bulges hanging over my pants, and Addi is healthy and happy.

So that will just have to get me through the rest of it all.

Quick question for all you seasoned mothers. Addi hates costumes. She really does. She hates having hats or things on her heads (except for the bows because she knows she is not getting out of that) She hates costumes, she hate tutus. Therefore, Halloween is a daunting task. I remember last year her crying hysterically when she had to wear her cute little candy corn costume. It was traumatic on us all. So this year I would love to have it be better...any ideas? Something that is a costume but does not FEEL like a costume. I would totally have her be naked and put tattoos all over her body...but that may lead to the authorities taking her away from me.

Notice the tattoos that we have to buy and put them all over her. She is an addict.

Soon, soon I will have something great to say, until then I will leave you with these pictures:

This is her supporting her daddy at the game. She kept yelling Go Daddy Go. She does not understand that he really is not one of those kids with the helmets on running around. I let her believe that so she keeps cheering because it is cute.This is me and her pulling faces in the car. We are cool.

This was our annual Gardner Village visit with my dear cousin McKelle and her cuties. This is the first time that Gwen and Addi really played together. It was cute...unless you were at that Quiznos while we were, you may not have thought they were as cute as I did.

This is at our photo shoot for family picts. Another thing she hates. This was when she had seriously had enough.

She's 2...Oh, that makes sense.

I have the cutest little girl in the world. I really do. But sometimes she is crazy and drives me slightly batty. When this happens and I vent to someone about it the usual reply is this.


"How old is she?"

"2"

"Oh, that makes sense."

Like this should erase the fact that she is kinda nuts and freaks out occasionally over things that I have no idea what to do about. Example you ask....Sure!

1. "I need a HAIRCUT"

Our poodle was getting a tad hairy, and with the weather still nice and scorching, she was panting her life away. So haircut she had. Addi was so excited to take her there and gave her a big kiss and told her we would be back soon. For the next three house she waited in eager anticipation to go get her puppy. When she finally got to see her she was pumped and said how adorable and cute her little puppy had become....then the crazy 2 year old came out.

(Inspiration for haircut, with princess cape that was later adorned by Addi)


" I need a haircut." She sweetly said

"No you don't baby, your hair is beautiful" I reply, thinking that I am talking to a logical being.

"No, I NEED a haircut." She said with more urgency and whine in her voice.

This proceeded for about 20 minutes before I decided that what she really needed was a nap and her intense feelings would all be fixed with a few winks. But what was the first thing she said/wailed?

"I NEED A HAIRCUT!"

So there I was, trying to alleviate my daughters poodle envy and finally I just quit and we went to the bathroom where I wet down her hair and cut off the smallest amount of hair ever cut from a head. She felt better.

This is post haircut...Pirate patch added for fun (No I did not get to pierce her ears, Ronnie wont let me, but we found some stickers ones that seriously are awesome, they stay on for days, seriously!) 2. Yo Gabba Gabba

Does anyone watch this? Oh heavens its funny. The first time I saw it I thought, Wow, this show is totally for crack heads, this is really a joke made by severe drug users and it is laced with subliminal messages urging their druggie ways of life. So imagine my surprise when I heard that it was made by a couple Mormon dads just trying to give their kids something to watch. And watch they will. Addi loves it. It has taught her some adorable songs like " Don't bite your friends" and "There's a party in my tummy." Good life lessons involved there.
Her gabba guys

It has also given her another thing to desire when we go shopping. She now owns all the creepy guys and we have a good time reenacting their lives and loves in our home. When my mom reads this she will roll her eyes, we have totally not won over Jude on this show and she relates it to Tellie Tubbies, (it is really 100000 times better ma, really)

3. Trampoline.

"Lets go bounce." I hear it billions of times over the course of the day and usually it leads us out to the tramp to do said action. My father hates the thing and has us all convinced that it will lead to multiple deaths, but so far all it does is make my little girl so very happy. I love the hair that it makes! I really want one when we move to our house, do you guys have them? Should be put it in a hole? Is she going to break her neck?

Look at those awesome static flyaways! Love it!

4. The house
Only about 3 weeks till we get to move in. Cant wait to show you guys pictures!

Were back!

Can you even stand that school has started again! Geez! By the end of the school year I find that I will miss the kids that I teach, miss the time that I spend with them and for the first two weeks of summer I find that it is kinda tough on me and I don't know quite what to do with all the time I have on my hands....then I get over that.

1. The new place:

The hole

This summer was amazing. Addi was simply oozing adorablility and the three of us had a great summer filled with all the summer things...kinda. Mostly we were just obsessing over out the building of our house and the selling of our townhouse. Addi was so sick of tile and carpet stores that she would purposefully try to inflict wounds on herself to make us leave. She also grew a distinct hatred of any wood type structure which did not go along great with our plans of going to look at the progress of our upcoming house every day. Hopefully this is not a sign that she will always hate the place because she is doomed to live there...forever, because once we move in I will never move again. I will have more pictures soon.

2. Why I will never move again:

Her tearfully saying goodbye to our purple door

I am so sick of this statement given to me by my husband at least 12 times a day while moving things that I certainly have to business moving; "I thought I married a college athlete, not some wimpy girl that cant carry things." To which I scream from the top of my lungs; "I carried a ball damnit, not an effing entertainment center!"

It was good.

I just get angry because he has like 50 football players at this disposal and could simply bring them in and move it all in one fail, not achy back move. But no, he thinks we are bonding. People say that building a house is rough on a marriage, I disagree, the MOVE is rough on the marriage! By the way, moving is also lame because I forget why the pee pee I ever bought half of the stuff I am putting in box after box. Most things must pass this test... do I really want it, or would it be easier just to buy more after we move? I wish dishes and pots and pans fit that bill, they sucked. But at least we did sell our house in like 26 days and we are officially homeless until then. Poor Stan and Judy are taking us in for the next 6 weeks or so.

3. Actual fun summer stuff:

This was us at the fair...I love a good fair

It was not all bad and it was not all back breaking (although I put on like 10 lbs in stress weight! When I couldn't decided on what cabinets I wanted, I ate everything in them, when I couldn't decide what flooring I wanted, I dumped food on the floor and just ate till I forgot what the floor was, hence, 10 lbs. Yikes.) Anyway, we swam a lot, went to the fair, played at every park in the state of Utah and just enjoyed the heat. It was nice. I will miss it.

Willow Park in Logan with the animals.


The best park ever in Kaysville, it looks like a castle, any princess would be thrilled.


stealing some love from my baby.

We also spent about half of the summer (or so it felt, at every Parade of Home we could find, Addi loved jumping on other peoples beds and looking at all the cool stuff. I loved it too.
We spent so much time in that car her bum was glued to it! I loved to snap all the times that she totally crashed in her chair, made me laugh and giggle every time.

So long till August

School is out and it's time to hit the sunscreen! Woo Hoo summer is finally here. As some of you know, I usually do my blogging during school while blissfully ignoring my students and pretending that they are not talking about the various parts of their body they are planning on piercing and the glories that it will bring to their life. You see, currently we are sans Internet at our casa and therefore will not be able to check in your wondrous stories which I am sure will be filled with Popsicles and pools and parades and such. While I will miss you all, we will be very busy too. Here our some of our summer endeavors:

1. Enjoying family time:

This is her pretending to be a dog. Note the hands, Popsicle in one, piece of pizza in another...again...fat kid in the future!

Jeez I love summer! I know I brag about my job a lot, but come on, I will get paid to do things like this...

She realized that watermelon is the greatest of all treats!


Does anyone watch My Name is Earl? So many pictures have her with her eyes closed like the beloved Earl Hickey. Makes me laugh hard.

2. Getting down to business:

I really need to be a tough mommy this summer and get rid of this binkie. She loves it. She does not care if it will destroy her teeth and that kids will make fun of her in school, every time she puts it in her mouth she says "Binkie...Yummy." To her it is the most delicious thing ever and no form of bribery will work at this moment. 1000 dolls or her binkie, you got it, bink is the winner.

Again, Earl Hickey.

We also need to get her to sleep the entire night on her own. She goes down so great, then at about 1 or so we let her get in bed with us. I think we like it just as much as she does so we are totally in for it. There is just nothing like holding and smelling and kissing your sweet baby all night. It is also good to know what she dreams about and let me tell you this, we have a fat kid on our hands. Oh it is so effing funny! Several times she has mumbled in her sleep the desire for Milk and Cookies. Last night she rolled over and was so distraught over the fact that she wanted to eat Corndogs while sitting in her chair. Boy was she mad at the dream demon that was keeping her away from her corndog chair. Yep, we may have a true fat girl on our hands.

3. Building our dreams:

It is official, we are the owners of a nice piece of land in West Haven and will have a house hopefully by the beginning of September. So this summer will be filled with the stress of cleaning up all the dog pee that my poodle has distributed through our house (she is not invited to the new one) and hopefully selling it quickly. Then I have to pick out all my stuff. This may sound like a dream to some, but I swear when it comes to houses I have a total split personality. I love the pottery barn look with white cabinets and airy windows and pale colors, and I also love the rustic dark look that is distressed and worn looking. Which mood will I be in when I pick, who knows! I know there are worse things in the world, but if I choose wrong I will punish myself severely for the next 50 years! We are very excited though and crazy blessed with an awesome builder who is making all our wishes come true. Any tips will be very appreciated.

Our lot, this is the before pic. Ron is pumped to start mowing....he will be exhausted!

4. Thanks!

Thanks to all of you who wished my team luck and supported them, they did it! They won the State championship! Last time we won was 11 years ago when I pitched, and it was seriously cooler being a coach and watching my niece be so amazing. She didn't allow a single run all tournament and was simply astounding out there. I started crying in about the 5th and didn't let up till we were home. Addi drove home on the bus with us and we got a police escort through Roy, it was awesome and she stuck her little number 1 finger out the window the entire way. Too bad she will be a dancer and will never know the field...at least not as a pitcher, my heart cant take it!

Whatcha doin' at 5 today?

If any of you are so crazy bored today at 5pm, I have a great idea...

Come watch the Royals Softball team try to win the state championship! Woo hoo, so happy for my little ladies!

We play the winner of Bonneville and Tooele to take home the big trophy.

I will be somewhere under the bleachers crying out of fear and anticipation kinda like I did when I played for this title 11 years ago.

But these gals are much tougher than I was.

GO ROYALS!

Ducks, Ball, and Mommies

Things have been a little crazy round these parts. Softball is almost over though which will only give me more time to be busy, but good. Life is good.

1. Ducks:
   

   Ron had to be an escort at Cotillion this past weekend up at Weber State so me and Bugs went along to feed the ducks, check out the princesses and grove to the funky rhythms that the DJ was pumping, (did that sound cool? I was trying to sound cool and hip and stuff, did I totally pull it off?) It was awesome, ducks are awesome and I am thinking about getting some of those when we get our new back yard too. Anyway, we took our cheep loaf of bread and the ducks and seagulls went to town….and Addi. I swear she never eats as well as when she is supposed to give it to something else. She liked the ducks, liked watching me feed them, mostly liked eating the bread. That was until this giant goose caught on to her selfish ways and walked right up to her and stole her bread from her terror stricken little hand. I was rolling, (well not literally, the ground is covered with pounds of duck feces) I couldn't stop laughing, even if my daughter was slightly scarred by the bully goose, it was funny, she'll get over it. This is the very goose, look at him eyeballing that loaf.
   

2.Softball Team:

The wonderous Royals won the Region V title this week. Very proud of them, I usually hate them and have countless moments where I want to put a bat through their aoretas, but all in all they are good gals. One girl though is trying to kill me. I am a pretty nice person, I usually have all sorts of patience in my students and in others, but there is this girl on my team that every day does something to turn me into a total giant throbbing 'B' word. Seriously, I have all sorts of stories but this one jumps out at me. It was before a game last week and I was throwing to the chickas and she steps in the box….sans shoes.
"Where are your cleats?"
"I forgot them."
"K, (long sigh) go put on your running shoes so you can hit."
"I don't have them either."
"Really? (insert sarcastion as needed) Im not pitching to you unless you have shoes."
Two seconds later she is back in the box with one shoe and one slipper.
Anger rising,"Im not kidding, Im not throwing to you till you get some real shoes. You could break your foot."
"I don't even like my feet." Seriously, she really was doing this to me. I wanted to beat her. I should have just broken her foot.
3. Mommies:
This is my third mothers day and I could not be more blessed. I love being a mom, even when I don't like it, I truly love it. Addi is such a blessing, such an inspiration, such an super star. I am sometimes surprised by how much I love her, how much she fills my heart, but what sometimes surprises me more is how much she loves me. When she wraps her little arms around my neck and squeezes and I can smell her little girl smell I am just blown away. How lucky am I to be a mom?

And how lucky am I to have the mom I was blessed with? I have never seen a lady so dedicated to the loves of her life. She would do absolutely anything for us (we take her up on that.) She loves Addi like I could only dream of her being loved. She makes every grandkid feel like the most important, most precious, most loved being on the earth. How does she do this? I have made it my life goal to be like her one day. You are my best friend, best mommy, best everything. Thanks for giving me the "Best Day" every day.

Yep, she is under a card table with Addi, she will do anything.

Best Weekend Ever

I have always loved Spring. Therefore, I have always loved Easter (even before the creation of Cadbury Mini Eggs I loved Easter, that just heightened the love.) Anyway, this year it was the best times 10! Easter, Spring Break, Baby Animal Day, and my baby's second birthday all rolled into one awesome weekend. Best weekend ever!

1. Baby Animal Day:

My cute husbie took me there our first year of marriage knowing that from that point on I could never divorce him due to the immense gratitude for him for bringing this perfect event into my life. I love everything about it. I love the mud, I love the animal poop, I love that I can just walk up and shove kids out of the way in order to pluck up a baby duck and hold him in my hands. It is simply perfect and this year was no exception. Addi was pumped, she got to run around outside and scream animal sounds and pet all sorts of animals. We went with her two grandmas her little girl cousins and her aunt. I think her favorite was the "Camel Ride" which is really just a horse ride but there is the one Wiggles song that they go on a camel ride so now that is just what any ride has turned into. She was so ticked when I took her off! My favorite was the Pygmy goats. Holy Moses were they cute! Seriously, I wanted to hold it to my chest for the rest of my life and just look in his (or her, I cant tell) eyes. Trying to decided how many I will own when we get our house.

2. Addi's Birthday Party:

Since Addi's actual birthday was on Easter, we had her party on Friday. Did she really know what was going on? No, but she was pumped to get balloons and play with her cousins and have everyone give her lots of crap. It was awesome and she had a blast. She was thrilled to get new little dollies and then her crafty little mama made her an awesome little house if I do say so myself:

Notice the nightgown? No she did not wear that to the party but as soon as she opened it she had to put it on!

The house goes over just a regular card table and it is made of felt. I saw them on Etsy but I am much too cheap to pay what they wanted so about $20 and about 9000 hours later she had her house. All the stuff comes off so she can pick apples or plant flowers or feed her dog. Mostly she just sits inside and plays with her dollies or watches movies. She is cute. I like her.
3. Easter Egg Hunt 2009:

I have helped my brother MC the Roy Easter egg hunt for the last few years and usually have success at it. Not so much this year. I would like to blame the crappy speaker system. I would like to blame Addi for freaking out right before it started over the fact that no one would just let her go pick up some damn bubbles. I would like to blame the stupid kids for not listening to me correctly. But alas, the blame falls on me for saying some of the worst words ever:

"Three minutes to GO until the start of the hunt" Was what I said. They just heard the GO part. Then I started screaming:

"No, NO, NOOOOO" Which I assume sounded more like "Go, GO, GOOOOOOO!" needless to say once they went, they were not coming back and I stood there like a fool waiting for crazy moms to come up to me and say how I ruined their kids entire Easter. Luckily they remembered that it was all free candy and there was not too many people that wanted to rip my throat out.

4. Easter/Real Birthday:

Again, I love Easter so I was automatically thrilled to wake up. When we went downstairs and she saw her basket she screamed "BUNNY!" and ran to her stuff. She was excited to get an Ariel doll that went in to tub with her, she liked her new Monsters Inc movie, but the candy was not such a hit. She got some cotton candy (who hates cotton candy, come on Addi) and as soon as it hit her tongue she started scraping it off with her nails to try to rid her mouth of the wicked melting confection. Marshmallow frogs, also spit out. However, her dad's Reece's eggs were good enough to eat several of! The hunts were alright, she was not too into them but picked up some eggs occasionally. Good day. She really did have no idea it was her real birthday though, whenever someone would ask her whose birthday it was she would promptly say that it was the bunny's.

Cute Hu?

Busy, busy,....Spring?

I know its not Thursday, but this time of year beggars cant be choosers.

1. Mother Nature can burn in the depths of the devils pit:

What the 'H' Mother Nature? You give us one glorious week of warmth and decide that we have had enough? This would be fine if I wasn't expected to go outside and play softball for at least two hours a day or on the bad days stand out there for about 5 and watch the sport. All I want is to feel the warmth on my cheeks and be able to feel my fingers. Stupid lady.

2. St. George

This is her new Royal Dress that her mommy made playing in our favorite van.

We did find some happy little warmth while in St. George a couple weeks ago. Some of you may remember the glory of the March Softball Warm up down there and it is still going strong. I had been terrified of this trip due to the fact that Addi doesn't really enjoy vast amounts of time strapped into her seat cruising down the interstate. But that was all before...before we invested in the greatest of all inventions....

Oh thank you Sweet Baby Jesus for the glory that is Portable DVD players! This made the trip nice and she really didn't complain at all. It also helped that we rented a Mini-van (and now I am joining the fan club for them) and had lots of room to maneuver between her and the treats and the toys that were needed during the drive. It was so fun and she loved her 'truck' that she got to rule over the weekend. Call me lame, but I totally cant wait till I get a Mini-van with Stow-and-go seating one day. Yea, I dream big.

3. Softball:

The first day of the tournament I think we were the greatest team to have ever played the game. Cauley (my sophomore niece and the entire reason I coach) pitched a game where she got 20 strike outs. (I don't think I ever achieved that, I may lie to her and tell her that I did, but I think my high was really like 18.) She was amazing and astounding and awesome and all those other great words that indicate how great someone is. However, the second day they were a little less than spectacular. She did pitch the last game and got another win and another 14 K's but no need to brag about her right now. We ended 3-2...Oh well, at least the weather was good and we got to eat at In-and-Out.

4. Fish Show

Addi has found that Finding Nemo is her new favorite show and has asked to watch it at least 15 times a day. She first calls it Fish show and if I don't respond she asks to watch Nemo and if I still don't respond she will bring me the DVD remote over and tell me to WATCH IT. Her face shows how serious she is about this request which makes me laugh and usually allows her to fulfill her happiness. Her favorite parts are when the little octopus says 'Aww, you guys made me ink.' and when Dori exclaims that the giant scary fish in the depths is on a 'diet.' She knows those parts word for word. She is cute and I love her.

5. Angel:

She has been obsessed with Angels lately. Any lady or woman like object is in her mind an Angel. Everytime we do laundry together and she finds my 'Mormon Panties' she must immediatly wrap it around her head and call herself and Angel...I agree.

RTT- 2-19-09

1. Valentines!

How much fun is Valentine's day? So fun right? I love having Addi to buy things for and absolutly any excuse is valid. Does she even care about it? No, but she likes hearts so that is a jumping off point. Anyway, my sweet husbie knew exactly what I would want (time) so he took off Friday so we could have a family day. He slept in with her while mommy got to work out (a much needed treat) then we went to Lehi to go swimming (so cool Cheyenne, so happy you told me about it so long ago...I totally would have called you to hang out but Ronny is selfish!) Anyway, it is the best indoor aquatic center and it was so much fun! She loves swimming, drinking as much pee water as possible and trying to drowned herself repeatedly. I like it too even though I look much similar to a beached whale. It was kinda funny because I remembered that we were definately in Utah county and by just being in the pool you could get pregnant...every lady there (except me) was about to burst with baby!

After we went to the Gateway and walked around, window shopped, bought chocolate, went to Moochies (see earlier posts to hear my further salvations about the fab Moochies) and even made him buy me silly cupcakes all with the words "Well since it is Valentine's day and all...." works good ladies, try it next year. Anyway, thanks for the great day husbie.

2. Girl Hair:

I have always wanted to have a live doll to do hair on. Even though I have never been good at it...Once when I was about 10 I tried to give myself a pony tail and any hair (and we are talking clumps people) that was sticking out I would simply cut off...it worked! Anyway, I was very excited to have a girl to do fun thing with hair wise and Addi finally has enough to try and perform cool things with. Little did I know that the most fun was when you took out said hair do and got to see the after results...

Nice hu?

3. Fake Earrings:

In Addi's Valentines bag she got some sweet sticker earrings to wear. I kinda figured that they would last about 45 seconds before they would end up on the floor and under my sock or in my cereal or something. Little did I know that they use space age polymers to adhere these things to whatever they touch first. For example, I put on the earrings on Saturday morning...

Notice them on her cute little lobes.

Bath that night, still stuck, (notice in pictures above) figure they will be on pillows next day unless she eats them that night.

Monday....still stuck

Tuesday....
Finally I pried them off last night because I had images of her skin growing over them. Once I heared a story about a dog that had a rubber band placed around his neck and his skin just grew over it creating this cool skin necklace...I didnt want Strawberry Shortcake earrings to be permentally on her cute little listerners forever. But seriously....impressive right?

Have a great week everyone and thanks to everyone who made me feel better last week. As soon as I published the post I thought of 8 more things that make me a horrible mom but we can discuss those at a different time.

Till next week wishing you hugs and chocolate! (for you Ronny)

RTT 2/5/2009

Today is going to be a pity party for myself. Fell free to leave comments telling me that I am really an alright person and that I don't deserve to have Addi and any future children taken away from me.
1. Why I am a horrible mom #1
I do not have the ability to say no. Sometimes I do, like when she is hitting me with a stick or wants to carry around a knife, I have said no to her at those moments, but even then I have the tendency to let her get in one solid blow or look at the knife a little longer than she should. But one way I cant say no is in the car. I don't remember when it started, I guess when she got a forward facing car seat; the problem: Hand Holding.
I thought it was cute. She wanted to hold her mommy's hand. How sweet is that? How could I turn her down when all she wanted was the closeness of her mom and I loved having her cute little fingers grip mine. That was how it started. Now it is a constant battle of immediately having to hold her hand as soon as the car is started and not letting go until we have arrived at the location we are heading. So there I am, driving with my left arm (or knee if I have to change the radio station) and my right are reaching back in the most awkward way possible to her seat. Yes it goes numb. Yes it throbs. Yes we may crash and die. But at least I didn't have to tell her no and hear her cry.
2. Why I am a horrible mom #2
The dreaded Bink. I remember in the hospital them shoving the binkie in her mouth as soon as she emerged from the womb. I just figured it was what they needed, she loved it. Immediate addiction. I blame all addictions on binkies. I think they breed addiction like tendencies and one day all binkie addicts will be on cigarettes or candy or some other oral fixation because it was pounded on them as an infant. (Just a theory.) Anyway, she loves hers. It has been about a year now that the doctor told me to only give it to her in her bed (see reason 3 for why that didn't work out.) Heaven help her she loves that binkie. I take it from her if she is playing, eating or has something to distract her at all, but once she gets it, she holds it with all her might. Funny thing is she rarely sucks it anymore, it is like that toothpick that old men have hanging from the side of their mouth. It is just sitting there, pushed to the side of her mouth between her teeth so she can talk and stuff. I dread the day that we will take it. That will be a small slice of hell...which is why we keep putting it off. I know that when we go to her doctor again she will ask...I will lie, and it will be the never ending cycle of braces and binkies until she is in college.
3. Why I am a horrible mom #3
I have the absolute inability to sleep train. I read Baby Wise. Started crying, threw it against the wall because I knew that I did not have what it took to do the things they wanted. So every night we have our routine, brush teeth, read books, say prayers, sing songs, go to bed. All is great...for about 2 hours. Then she wants some comfort in the form of her parents bed. Some nights I am good at staying in her room and making her fall asleep again (by holding my hand of course...refer to previous) Other nights I am sleep drunk and just want to go to bed and I know if I bring her we will all get sleep. Again, I just keep avoiding it and think that it will take care of itself. I also blame genetics. Until recently, both of my brothers had a 10 year old and a 12 year old in their beds. See totally not my fault....we were born with the inability to have kids in their beds.
4. Wrap up:
So now what? How do I turn on the mean and teach her all the things that I have so horribly failed to teach in the past? I keep telling myself that the next baby is going to be in for it. That I will be totally immune to the 'cute' and just be mean and teach them all the 'right' ways of the world. But then there will be Addi in the corner telling them how the world really works and how to totally screw with mommy's brain. I am done for. I want more kids, but do you think it is even possible, or will I repeatedly bash my brain in with a baby bottle if I keep this up? What should I do good mommies of the world?

RTT Catch Up

I have taken quite a blogging hiatus and now am back to attack you with more of my thoughts, ideas, loves and blunders.
1. Christmas Break:

Christmas break this year was amazing. The best ever. Ron has been so busy all year with football, swimming, and drivers ed that we very rarely see him for more than 3 waking hours a day so having him home all the time was quite a surprise. At first me and Addi didn't know what to do with him, but we quickly realized that it was awesome! Ron and bugs played like crazy and they are sure cute to watch. Ron is willing to be pummeled by her raging fists of fury and take head butt after head butt while mommy peacefully sits on the couch sipping hot cocoa. (Mommy doesn't play those games)

2. Why I should never buy gifts:

I was so very excited for Christmas, I thought I had every present that my little lady would want with all her heart. I bought her the adorable doll house...

This was her Phineas doll that her daddy gave her (notice the cheese lined lips)

These were her Mickey Mouse figures, notice the word 'were' I think we still own one chipmunk, Donald and Mickey with his nose cut off.
The awesome giant vat of cheese balls that she spent 10 minutes giving all her attention to.

I thought she would love the cool bike she got to rock, ride and race on...

But boy was I wrong. I don't know my daughter at all and what she really wanted I failed to get which led to a complete Jesus's Birthday melt-down! Her cute cousins both got little fairy outfits and barbies. I didn't know Addi was into fairy outfits and barbies. I am a bad mom and should have her taken away from me and given to a mother who knows best. Since she is the youngest, she eventually got her way and the other two had to forfeit their toys so the crying would stop.

3. New Year's Competition:

About 5 years our family came up with a new thing to do on New Years to bring a little more competition to the table for our family. We pick a theme and have ourselves an Iron Chef inspired feast. This years theme was appetizers because we usually have too much food and then we end up feeling bloated and too tired to stay up till midnight so this year we tried to scale back. It is also nice to have the bragging rights of the winner, and knowing who the judges were (nephews Greyson and Chase) I was gunning for the prize.

To the anger and disappointment of my brothers and sister-in-laws, I came home with the victory! IN YOUR FACE JERKS!!! It was my delicious meatloaf sliders with garlic-horseradish aioli and cheese fritters on focaccia that won. Nice wording hu?

4. Softball

So that was the Holidays, now that we are back to school we had to start open gyms. Suckiest time of softball ever. Seriously, why do kids who are afraid of the ball want to come to a place where balls are flying everywhere? I don't understand how they think it is fun. You cant tell them that they should go home or to a bomb shelter (due to their total lack of athleticism and they will get hurt in the world) because it is open gyms and anyone can show up. Which is awesome for a special ed teacher because they all think I wont cut them because I am their 'nice' teacher....they are wrong. Anyway, here we go!

RTT 12/11/08

1. Only two weeks till Christmas...poop.

I swear I have nothing done. No presents wrapped. No cards sent. No egg nogged. Nothing. I have two weeks to get it all in. Any tips on what to get all those people I have no idea what to get, just throw something out there, there is no such thing as a stupid idea for me.


2. Not meeting some peoples expectations.
Addi came up to me yesterday with three spherical objects, (a golf ball that glows in the dark mind you, a plastic apple and the top of a fake ice cream cone.) What does she want me to do with them you ask?

"Juggle." She requests.

"Juggle?" I question. Why the peeps does she want me to juggle these things for her. Does she not know that while I would like to be all knowing and brilliant in all things juggling is simply not one of the things that I can do (I did not graduate from Alta!)
So there I stupidly sit with the balls in my hands and fake juggle, you know, just move my arms up and down real fast and hum a circus song. Didn't fool her. So now I need to learn how to juggle so that the look of pure disappointment is finally wiped from her face.







3. I'm cold.
I know that we have not even gotten snow to speak of yet...but I'm cold. Very cold. I want summer back.

4. Procrastination kills.
At the start of November I saw this nativity for sale. Wanted it. Didn't get it. Now they are all out of stock unless I want to fork over like 3 times as much. Why didn't I just buy the damned baby Jesus?

Random Thought Thursday- Favorite things edition

First that crazy nun on Sound of Music talked about it, then Oprah tried to duplicate it...now it is the Random Thought turn.

These are just a few of my favorite things...well at least for today. I am a finicky person and change my mind at any moment so for today, here are my favorites.

1. Personality Profiles:

I remember watching the commercials about how different people eat Oreo's differently. I thought it was a clever idea, but really, does it mean anything when you eat it a certain way? That was before I watched my 19 month old figure her own way of eating the yummy concoction. Addi hates milk....unless it is accompanied by some cookies. As I was watching her the other day, I noticed that she was eating the cooking in a very specific manor. She did not get this from me...I am more of the soggy cooking sitting in the milk for a minute so it falls apart when it hits your tongue. Anyway, I thought this was an awesome way to look at someones personality. This is on the list because one of my favorite things is watching her develop her own way of doing thing. No imitations, just what she feels.Are you a dipper, are you a separate and licker, are you a straight up eater? Come on people, what is your personality?



2. Nativities...mostly the sheep.
I don't know where it came from, but I have always adored sheep. Not the real ones that have poop hanging from their wool (although they are cute too), but the fake kind that look like you could cuddle up to them and drink hot cocoa with. (I don't know why I want to drink cocoa with them...that is why it is random people!) Anyway, I love setting out my nativities each year to remember how cute the sheep are...Baby Jesus isn't bad either, but a close second (I will repent later)

3. Pajamas

If I had an addiction, an untamable compulsion to buy something it would be size 2T pajamas. How freakin' cute are they? I am not joking, while standing in the store, I have to talk myself out of buying them by telling myself mental messages like these:

"Ron is going to kill you if you take home one more pair"

"There are only 7 nights in a week, how many pairs do you need?"

"Don't you have at least 3 pairs like that at home?"

"Seriously, Ron is going to kill you and then send your remains to the loony bin!"

Most of the time these messages mean nothing and they end up in the cart. The Christmas ones alone have their own drawer. I know, how dumb is this. She wears them to bed, we get up and take them off...well unless we aren't doing and then...well you know those days. (I choose this picture because it also shows my above love:

4. Cottage Cheese
I swear, like 3 cartons a week. I could go through one a day if that didn't mean I would just have to go to the store the next day. I don't know what it is, the creamy chunks (I hope it is not the creamy chunks because that is just gross) but something about that is just so good.

5. Slippers
Sometimes in the middle of the day, I fantasize about when I get to go home and put on my slippers. I fantasize even more about putting them on over knee high socks and just being cozy for the day. Seriously, why are my toes made of small icebergs that only melt at like 3 in the morning when I am forced to strip off my knee highs and wipe the sweat from them. My favorite slippers are these (see below) because the hold on with the best of them and call my name in such a loving way.

6 Diluted Crystal Light
Good stuff, just too strong. Crystal Light is a good cool replacement when water tastes too watery and you just need some fake fruit taste. But straight up it is just too...I don't know...fake sugary. So I like to go 1/3 CL and 1/3 H2O. Good ratio if you are looking for one. I like to put it in my squirt bottle and go to town.

7. My most favorite things...
My family. Addison, my sweet Husbie, my mommy and dad and all the rest that make my life complete. This time of year is awesome because the whole world unites in celebration of giving and family. How cool is that? What would I do without them? They make me who I am and that is a pretty happy person. I'm sure everyone out there agrees that family is a pretty great favorite thing.

So what are your favorite things....Happy Thursday everyone! I also what to give a special shout out to one of my favorite RTT readers who just got engaged...Jodi, you rock and Tate is one lucky peanut! Love ya!

Random Thought Thursday

Thursday again....time for some random thoughts!

1. Much to much randomness in my head today! I have been going through a sleep deprivation program that my daughter has developed for me. For those who may not know, she is NOT a newborn, does not need to wake up to eat or be changed or soothed like newborns, but she is about 19 times crazier! Seriously, I am going nuts. I am a bad mother and basically let Addi rule to roost. Hence the backfire. She wakes up at about midnight each night and calls for me. I rush to her crib and give her kisses and tell her to go to sleep....but....she cant fall asleep unless she is holding my hand. She cant drive in the car unless she is holding my hand (it will kill us both.) She doesn't even like to just watch TV unless I am holding her hand. At first it was cute, she needed me so much that she just wanted to touch me all the time. Now I regret it. So there I am, drunk with sleep standing at her crib with her cute fingers wrapped around mine.

She is finally asleep....tiptoe out.....quietly climb into bed....breath sigh of relief......

"MOMMY!!!"

F-word.

So last night I let her cry. An hour later after calling for me, yelling "HELP" as loudly as possible, what finally did it in was when she started wanted a "Rock-a-bye" over and over. Crying makes me tired...it is like speed for her. She was wide awake and giddy to see me in hopes that we could play. At 2 am mommy is in no mood to play. I have failed at being a sleep momma and vow to make my next child (heaven help us) less needy.

2. How crafty am I? I had so much fun making her Halloween dress that I made a thanksgiving day dress that anyone could be thankful for...
There is something so satisfying to me sitting at a sewing machine. I used to be totally terrified of them, I vaguely remember making a crazy hot pad that I would rather be burnt with than use...it really was bad. I think the teacher felt bad for me and my total lack of homemaking skills.

3. For the love of deformities.

I love my job. Every other day I get to hang out with crazy teenagers and talk about whatever I want! Seriously, I show up, have a basic plan of what to do and we chat the day away. Sure I sometimes yell and them and call them morons and bastards (I really don't, but I want to) but all and all, I am shocked they pay me what they do for my job. So right now we are taking about heredity and genes and stuff. Today was genetic mutation. Just hearing the name you know you are in for a good time:

Who doesn't love a four legged duck?This is kinda awesome/kinda gross. This guy has his big belly because when he was in his mothers nice warm womb, his sweet twin brother died and his belly absorbed him...that's brotherly love. So he has his dead twin brother in his tummy. Nice.

This is the cyclops cat. Yep a good old fashioned one eyed cat.

I have no doubt that I am a demented freak for enjoying this lesson so much. I like freaky things, I'm sure there are quite a few of you freaks out there...admit it!

4. Damn dog...again.

Macie keeps getting me in trouble! We go outside to play and she follows us, until someone (who she is sure is a serial killer that will end our existence) comes by and Macie starts barking like a crazy person! I agree she is annoying, I want to punch her too, but come on, she weighs like 14 lbs. Really not scary. But the HOA guy came up and told me that I needed to control my dog. I blankly stared at him while thoughts of his lack of masculinity flooded my mind. Whatever dude. Then yesterday, a guy (what the hell men, get some cojones) and told me to get my dog on a leash or else....or else what? Who knows. I'm sick of getting in trouble for the silly white dog that just likes to hear her own voice, it that so bad?

Well everyone, thanks for letting me rant...until next week see ya later!