Adventures of Mom & Murry

Random Mommy Sentiment.

2007-08-24T23:05:00.000-06:00

Tuesday was a wonderful day. Murry was great. She played while I did chores. We played together and hung out with Mom while she painted more on my wall mural. On that very nice Tuesday while we 3 girls were eating lunch, Mom gave Murry a couple cheetos and told her, "Go to town, girl."

Her reply, in a very matter of fact manner, " I am a girl, but I don't need to go to town. Not today."

Then Tuesday evening, she started up acting like a stinker. It finally came out right at bedtime that she was scared/worried/nervous about going to preschool the next day. We talked, we sang. She agreed to go at least 2 days and see what it is all about. Well she went Wed. & Fri. She loves it. She's singing new songs, and being more outgoing. This is good, right?

I know it is. Somewhere in my mind. But a part of me doesn't like the 5 hrs a week that I won't know what she eats for a snack, or who she is hanging out with. I don't like that she says things and I don't know exactly why. I've always been pretty intuned with her since we spend most of our waking hours together. Oh and being on the other side of the whole school thing blows. Here I am turning over my precious daughter and they are rushing me out of the room. Just like I used to do when I was on the teaching side of the classroom door. I do understand, though. I know as a teacher, I tried to make each minute count. You don't have time to hold the parents hands. So we're muddling our way through.

Her doubts came before and mine are coming after. I feel like I'm giving up a part of her that I'll never get back. It may be time, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. She is just 3....barely.

I'm not sure I am ready for her to go to town. Not without me.

That's my job...it's what I do.

2007-06-25T22:53:00.000-06:00

I know this song(by Conway Twitty) was meant to be from a father's perspective, but it sure works well for a mother, too. When Ann-Marie is scared 1/2 to death, I can sing it in her ear and all is right with the world. For now we pretty much stick to the chorus, highlighted in red. I only copied the first part of the song here as it's the part that pertains to us for many years to come. Thank goodness.

I woke up crying late at night
when I was very young.
I had dreamed my father
had passed away and gone.

My world revolved around him
I couldnt lay there anymore.
So I made my way down the mirrored hall
and tapped upon his door.

And I said "Daddy, I'm so afraid
how will I go on with you gone that way?
Don't wanna cry anymore
so may I stay with you?"

And he said "That's my job,
that's what I do.
Everything I do is because of you,
To keep you safe with me.
That's my job you see."

Here is the rest.... The teenage part I've already been through myself. And I hope it's easy on Murry and me. I'm not looking forward to a time when I cannot make all right in her world with a simple song. The last part....well that's the one that worries me most. For myself and my little darling.

Later we barely got along
this teenage boy and he.
Most of the fights it seems
were over different dreams,
we each held for me.

He wanted knowledge and learning.
I wanted to fly out west.
Said, "I could make it out there
if I just had the fare.
I got half, will you loan me the rest?"

And I said "Daddy, I'm so afraid,
there's no guarantee in the plans
I've made and if I should fail,
who will pay my way back home?"

And he said "That's my job
that's what I do.
Everything I do is because of you
to keep you safe with me.
That's my job you see."

Every person carves his spot
and fills the hole with light.
And I pray someday I might
light as bright as he.

Woke up early one bright fall day
to spread the tragic news.
After all my travel, I settled down
within a mile or two.

I make my living with words and rhyme
and all this tragedy
Should go into my head and out instead
as bits of poetry.

But I say "Daddy, I'm so afraid,
how will I go on with you gone this way?
How can I come up with a song to say
I love you?"

That's my job, That's what I do
Everything I do is because of you
to keep you safe with me.
That's my job you see.
Everything I do is because of you
to keep you safe with me.

In case anyone wondered just what it is that I think about WAY too deeply late at night. There ya have it.

Here's a video with the song in it...for your listening pleasure.

Well I know I've been a bit boring

2007-05-27T23:17:00.000-06:00

..as of late. When I started this blog we were living in a duplex that took 2 hours to clean and I couldn't have cared less if I did any sort of deep cleaning on it. We were building a house which meant hours and hours of time at home with a little one since dh was often working on the house. I think it was in February, too. You know, cold and dark. Well I'm sadly down to a post a month and not much to say. I do put up new pics every so often over at Murry's world.

I guess it's like anything for me. It cycles round. Or maybe I'm losing it. Not my entire mind, just getting a little mushy. I have the attention span of a gnat these days. I guess she's rubbing off on me with her 2 year old ways.........hmmm......what was I doing? Trying to get a blog out with my mushy brain? Oh yeah. Well I got nothing. If I come up with something bloggable I'll get back with ya, but for now I'm out.

April's Post

2007-04-20T22:53:00.000-06:00

Yes, I'm a bad blogger these days. I like doing it and all, but by the time I get around to it...you know 11pm or after... my brain's pretty well done for the day anyhow.

So for those of you who are asking what have those two been up to lately? Well I am here to answer that burning question. Nada. Nothing new. But it's spring and the weather's been decent which results in us spending as much time outside as we can swing and still get my chores and 1 movie a day in.

Good weather day here. We went to the zoo. It was nice and peaceful. Miss Murry asked me if it would be okay to talk to this little girl at the penguin exhibit. She gets stranger danger huh? Anyhow...I said, sure go ahead. But I didn't coach her or anything. She didn't seem to know how to get the conversation rolling, so you can see how she's up in her space here. Her opening line...."Hi, this is me." All the adults standing around cracked up of course! So then I said, tell her, "My name's Ann-Marie" Then the other little girl, says, "My name's Ann-Marie" Toddlers are a hoot!!! We were all trying not to totally laugh out loud at this insanely insane conversation...but we weren't very successful. It's a scrapable moment for sure.

Later when the cold weather returned. A day at the aquarium. No funny story here. She was sullen and attitudinal for a good portion of the visit and her friend L was having his own issues. Then right as we are leaving they both get happy and all smiles and are holding hands having a grand old time. Two year old are their own special breed. I hope mine picks her more pleasant personality at age 3. Cause I expect this insanity to end right on her 3rd birthday!

They did have a ball feeding the turtles and touching the starfish. Or we'll call it that at least for L. ;)

We've had a lot of home days lately. Some weeks we run, run, run. Meaning I leave the house 3 or more days a week. Other weeks we leave the house 1 maybe 2 times. I much prefer those weeks.

Other life happenings...

Working out a lot more...eating better.
Got new shoes. Ordered them online from New Balance. Love anything that saves me from having to run downtown...30-45 minutes away from my little corner of the world.
Oh and they are HOT. Somewhat orthopedic, but my foot is lovin' them. Picked up another pair of not so orthopedic ones, too.
AM has moved from her "cars" obsession to a "my little pony" obsession.
Blowing lots of bubbles, porching, cleaning, and just living life.

Good times.

And for the Fam.

2007-03-27T22:21:00.000-06:00

Cause I've already splashed these all over the internet....but here they are again!

We went to Sears today to have AM's pics taken. She was so good and had a ball with the photgrapher lady. It was the first time she wasn't completely weirded out by the "new" person so I got to sit back and enjoy. It was so nice and she got so many smiles and good poses that I had a hard time picking. So I didn't. I did get a package, but I also got the CD so I can have them ALLL... mwahahahaha!

Come Meet Our Floamy Friends

2007-03-03T23:45:00.000-06:00

So you've been asking yourself, what are Mom & Murry up to these days??? Well we are busy as usual. We made these lovely creatures one day. She absolutely loves this kit. Since I'm cheap we aren't going to let them dry. Instead we shall take pictures. Other news in Murryland includes a trip to Build a Bear where she built a lamb. I'd include her pic but I'd have to go pry her out of her arms as she's snoozing. Maybe later. We have hamsters now. We have 3, but 1 is out of here, soon. These are just another thing on my "to do" list, but they are so cute that I don't mind too much. Yet. by Murry
by Mommy
by Mommy

by Murry
Here's a new use for her shopping cart. Very color coordinated, too. Many of you will recognize the movie she's watching. She's become quite the little "Cars" nut. She has the cars, the movie, and now even a Lightening McQueen fishing pole. Her favorite game to play right now is "tractor tipping." She runs around saying "Ka Chow." Good stuff.

That's all I have for tonight.

Herbie says, Hi.

She drives me to eat chocolate!

2007-02-19T21:14:00.000-06:00

Napping
We are on the brink of a sleep change. Let me just stop and cry for a minute. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Right now I can either:

get up at 8 and then let her nap for hour around 3 or 4. And this nap has to be enforced. I have to lay down with her or she'll just screw around till 5pm when it's too late. If she takes the said 1 hour nap, though she'll screw off in bed from 10 -11pm and holler for me and basically drive me crazy.
have a 9 o'clock wake up time and skip nap altogether. She's a bear most of the evening after 6pm, but she conks out at 9 like a champ.

I like neither of these options. I want my toddler who slept 12 hours at night and still took an almost 2 hour nap! Just when you get used to something, they go and change all the rules.

Pooping and the potty training regression ( the big one!)
She suddenly just doesn't want to poop. This is too hard, it hurts, I'll just pass. No matter how many times i tell her that isn't an option, she won't get it. I did tell her if she poops in her pants once more, she's back in pull ups. I despise cleaning terds out of underwear. The last 2 poops have made it in the potty, but she's being very high maintenance about this. She gets the heebie jeebies and you can tell she's doing everything not to crap on herself, but she won't admit she needs to poo. So I take her, talk her off her crazy toddler ledge and then read a book and wait. Sometimes I am rewarded with a poop in the toilet, but not all the time. She was doing MUCH better on this for about a month, but then she had the monster of all terds and now she fears them all. I have explained that if you hold them in, they get larger. I am pushing prune juice and prunes down her. She eats tons of corn, carrots and salad. This is one of those moments when I want to call it a day. I'm done. I don't, of course, but I am sick of trying to explain the pooping process and that it doesn't hurt any less to make mongo terds in your panties than it does on the potty.

Smelliot
This is the the ultimate insult right now. In our house we get into "name calling" feuds no less than 10 times a day. Common names are:

goober, goobersmack
gomer pyle
one-eyed wooly booger
silly goose, moosy, moose, monkey up a tree

But whoever pulls out the "smelliot" card wins. It's getting overused and will soon be added to the list and a new "trump" name will take its place, but for now, the NAME to remember is smelliot. For anyone not in the know, that is what they call Elliot the deer in Open Season to insult him.

OK...For real..

Ok, all in all she's a really sweet kid with sleeping and pooping issues. More pooping, really, than anything. I'm just tired of smelling her stinky farts and watching her do the "poo-poo" dance, but NO mama I do NOT have to potty. No I won't poop in my panties either, I just WOn't poop at all! But for real, I'd eat chocolate anyway, i LOVE chocolate.

Sunday she did do something good. She finally drove her car that Santa brought her. She's been scared of it up until now. It's also been to cold, so we haven't pushed it. And by "drove" I mean she pushed the gas, while Dan walked around turning the steering wheel. I'm sure it won't take long to catch onto this one, though.

Tomorrow, big day for us. We're going to town. Wal-Mart to be exact. She wanted to go today. She begged me to take her to Wal-Mart so she could eat a samwich at the restraunt and buy some grapes. I was not in the mood. Plus on some level,not too deep, I'm scared of the germs. So tomorrow, I put on my lysol wipes and away we go.

Oh yeah, and for some reason, we're getting a hamster. Anyone else want one?

pics on the other site.... Wonderfully Murry

And that folks is your update for the week. I'd apologize for my (our) life being boring, but I much prefer it that way. Ta ta.

The one with No pictures.

2007-02-14T23:47:00.000-06:00

To which you will be grateful. Monday morning. The kid is hollering at me, 9 am. I put my shoes on. (because I have to due to my foot issues) I go in and let her out of her cage...hmm hmm. bed. It's so endearing to me how she stays in her bed and waits for me. I will hurt the person who tells her she can do otherwise. I turn off the nightlight and the fan. I kiss her good morning. I make us each something to drink. Milk for her. Water for me, only because we're out of diet pepsi which i plan to pick up later. I smell dinner going in the crockpot, a big western omelet casserole. Pat myself on the back for planning ahead. Then I get another whiff, and nausea hits. Uh oh. Well I'm not a morning person, and I don't like hearty foods in the morning, so I'm just sure that's it. It passes, and I eat breakfast. Cereal. The kid picks at her whole grain Mickey Mouse clubhouse cereal. No amount of Mickey is selling her on the taste.

I do my morning chores, get myself ready and then her ready to go. We have a lunch date with my Nana. As I'm getting things ready to head out the door, another wiff of dinner and more nausea. Maybe I just don't like the smell of onions in the morning, I tell myself. Except now it's 11:30 am and I'm not believing myself. I have plans this week, and I've hardly been well since Christmas, this just cannot be happening AGAIN. So I pretend that it isn't. I convince myself that I just need a good BM and I'm good for go. ( as Murry would say)

So off we go. I get to Nana's, have that good bm I wished for, and.... I feel worse. Still in denial we head off to lunch at Pei Wei. We walk in and the smell alone almost makes me lose my fiber one flakes. I keep pretending I'm okay. Apparently I think I can pretend this one away. I sit down and eat 2 bites. I am drinking sprite b/c even the thought of my beloved diet pepsi makes me queasy. Still I am pretending I am okay. Not doing a good job, but trying to convince myself. When I cannot eat anymore, it becomes quite obvious that I am SICk. So we head out fast and I wonder why I ever left the house and how fast can I get back. I drop Nana off at her place with instructions to clean her toilet well and she gives me the infected bottle of pepto that I took a dose of. I'm trying to concentrate on making it home with all my food in my body at both ends. I'm singing, I'm focusing on everything else. But my body is punishing me for igonoring it. I'm hot then I'm cold. I get a little light headed. 4 miles down the road I can't take it anymore. I pull over and pretty much fill up a 2 gallon trashcan with watery toast oasties. aka fiber one, sprite, water and 2 bites of Pei Wei chicken. But I feel somewhat better. Good enough to drive home. I think about calling dh to come drive me home, but anyone dumb enough to leave home feeling that bad can surely get herself home. So I use baby wipes to wipe me down. I lysol wipe down the car. I assure darling daughter that I will live and off I go. We make it home where I put on a movie for kiddo and doze on the couch in good pain, but afraid to take advil. After movie I put kid and myself down for naps. She has the gaul to fight me on it. Even feeling like the nast, I will not let her win this one. When Mama says, "nap", you say "how long?" Ok, maybe a little stretch, but you will go in there and be quiet for at least an hour. I've survived till 4 so you can leave me alone till Daddy gets home at which point I am no longer responsible.

Later that night... roll around in the bed in pain for hours on end. Take 3 baths and get 1 hour of sleep after each one.

Tues. Dh goes to get some meds. I take thesewith a piece of toast and am back in bed by 10am and out till 6pm. Thank goodness I can sleep.

Wed. Feeling somewhat better. Tummy is still touchy, but nothing spewing from either end. So far. Praying it's over and I can have my life back.

3 reasons to live in the country

2007-02-08T22:21:00.000-06:00

1. Less populated areas put you further away from the crazy people. The world is full of crazy people. Instead of the thinking that if you can't beat them join them, I'm thinking if you can't beat them, stay as far away as possible!

2. You can walk outside in your skivvies and no one gives a crap.

3. Especially, Doe-reen, Doe-ra, and Doe-lilah (a reason all of their own)
I took this right out the back porch window this afternoon. There's something peaceful about seeing nature right out in your own backyard.

Here is one of some wildlife found right in my own living room. Think I can kill two birds with one stone? A vulture and a nightingale. She sets things up in the most creative way sometimes.
We're still dealing with the RsV cough here. I'm praying it goes away soon. I hate to see my baby girl miserable. I'm also going to add a few pics to the other site here in a minute. Hope you are all staying well and out of trouble.

Hints

2007-01-29T17:31:00.000-06:00

Since I have NO guessers and two people (weez and mom who are disqualified now) thought they absolutely had to know what it was, I'll give some more hints.

It is from a pic most of you have seen before, though probably in black and white.

I will tell you what it's not. Here are some guesses. I won't say who guessed what to protect the names of those people. Cause apparently they didn't want their guesses on the net. ;)

a terd
a nipple
a pickle
a tongue
chocolate
a pecan shell
or any food

I will also tell you that it is a pic you probably have seen before. Here's a little bit more of the shot.

And here's the pic right after. I am looking for the specific object, here.

Warning: Large face shot....and something brown???

2007-01-28T23:40:00.000-06:00

Here's the pic the eyes came from. Not a huge cheeser grin, but definitely a smile. I was having Dan help me and I guess he took "face shot" very very literally in this one. This isn't cropped or anything. So Trisha wins! I'll have to come up with a prize now.... hmmm...AM's been making some interesting stuff.... ;)
Next prize goes to the person who can say what this is AND what it is a part of? OH I am testing to see how well you folks are paying attention. Mwahahahaha!

Well, I don't have a lot of new, I tried to post this last night and Blogger was being a big ole pita.

We're all feeling much better! *knock on wood* I spent time last night working up a budget for this year. I spent a lot of time today purging documents from the last 2 year! I'm ready for spring cleaning. I love to throw crap away. I'll try to put get some new Murry pics soon! Love to all!!!!

Picklepotamous

2007-01-27T01:11:00.000-06:00

Murry on Mommy:

In this pic she is saying, "Mom, you're a picklepotamous" I love these jammies on her. So cute. I think these were from Aunt Weez. I had a harder time keeping up this year with the way she ripped thru the packages. We got out today, thank goodness! We both were getting cabin fever and on each others nerves. She misses nothing and comes up with some goofy stuff. She's also having a "let's try Mom" phase. Maybe due to boredom. Maybe sickness, whatever it is, I'm ready for it to be gone. The last 2 days have been better.

Mommy on potty training:
I do need to have a braggy mommy moment. I think she's like 99% potty trained! Oh what a beautiful day.! There has been one accident and 2 almost accidents in the form of skidmarks since my plopper announcement. I'm so happy just to be cleaning skidmarks out panties rather than changing a diaper. How cool is my life? I've graduated to skidmark cleaner! No matter how ready you are for each milestone,though, there is a touch of sadness when you see your "baby" slipping away. I said touch. Motherhood is one big contradiction for me. I push her to grow up and move along, then I'm sad when she does it. But only for a moment then we're on to the next big thing.

Murry on learning:
So I was reading on how some kids her age knew their letters already, and I thought okay, well maybe I should work on that with her. She knows the alphabet song real well. Has since 20 mos, but she doesn't know and A from Z. So I bought some foam letters and I was trying to talk to her about them in the bathtub. You know what she told me. ---Mom, I don't want to do learning today--- See and here I thought I was being sneaky. I laughed and asked what she wanted to do with them. Well she wanted to stick them on her chest, bite on them, stick them on my forehead and use them as boats. I said, ok kid have at it. There will plenty of time for learning. She's quick and it makes me want to push her, but I also want to enjoy this time. Buuut it did make re-think the preschool thing. I thought I could teach her anything they did...but she might learn better in a preschool environment. She learns a lot from songs and shows. I point things out and work with her in her books, but she she doesn't like direct or structured instruction. And that's okay! So there is another little tidbit for me to chew on.

We're just so glad to be feeling better! I hope the sickness is done wreaking havoc at my house!

So... are these smiling eyes, or serious eyes? First one to post the right answer, gets a prize!

2007-01-20T22:38:00.000-06:00

This just about explains my day! hee hee hee!

Now Murry's sick

2007-01-19T22:36:00.000-06:00

Just a quick minute to update. Miss Murry has RSV. Big bummer. We went to the dr's today and got breathing treatments that so far are letting her sleep about 1-1 1/2 hours out of every 4. This virus sucks! I'll try to update when I have a minute here or there. Not a lot of spare minutes with all this going on.

Mama's sick

2007-01-11T23:40:00.000-06:00

Just so you know why there has been nothing new on the sites. First, I had some kind of sinus cold thing. Started day after Christmas. Still hanging on with a cough. Allergies??? I dunno... Then last weekend, I got a stomach bug of some sort which is still hanging with me. So just to clear that up for you, coughing and loose control of my bowels. Not a pretty picture. So needless to say, I feel like the funk. I keep thinking I might be getting better, and then it hits me all over again. So I'm going to try to get to the dr. tomorrow before the ice hits and see if there is help for me.

Poor Murry. Bored to death. She's taking good care of me, though. I pray she doesn't get it. It's not good. Well everyone be careful in the ice and I'll post when I have something post-able. :/

A new site

2007-01-04T00:20:00.000-06:00

I have a new site that I'm working on about Miss Murry. I think I like the format better. It's definitely easier to upload pics to, and it's prettier. I'm keeping them both. Yes, she needs 2 sites, I'm sure. Anyway, it's Wonderfully Murry . Check it out if you haven't. You have to click around. Scrapbooks are pics with captions. News. Videos, I haven't figured out how to upload any yet. There's a guestbook which I would love for you to sign if you check out the page(s). That's all, I'm pretty boring tonight and it's late...G'night.

Happy New Year!!!!

2007-01-01T00:52:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope the new year brings fun,joy, and peace in our hearts. Here is how I've been feeling lately.

Pooped! In so many ways. I've been feeling under the weather since Christmas Day. This picture of Miss Murry was taken the Thursday before Christmas weekend. She had a long day of fun, and we tried to skip the nap. She crawled under here to take a poop and fell asleep! Hee hee! She slept right there for about an hour. It was too sweet.

I have a few other cute pics to share, but it's late and I'm pooped. So Happy New Years to all my favorite people! :-D

Beau

2006-12-22T13:49:00.000-06:00

Beau was hit by a car Saturday Dec. 16th. We had gone out for Daniel's birthday and came home to find him already passed. He was a good natured, happy dog and we will miss him. You don't realize how much a part of your life they are till they are gone. He used to sit outside the window at night when I was in here on the computer or scrapbooking. He was a big help with my diet as I brought him part of my dinner a lot! He was good with Ann-Marie and just loved being around people.

Someone dumped this cute little puppy right on our doorstep when we lived up on the mountain. Up there, there wasn't much traffic and he was very loved by all the neighbors. We didn't keep him pinned up much and when we did, he was miserable. He was born to hunt and he liked to take off at night and do his thing. During the day, he spent most of his time lounging in the yard. Anyhow when we moved into the duplex, he was miserable to be stuck in a backyard. Then we moved out here and put in an underground fence. It worked for a while, but then he decided it was just worth it to run throught the "shock" and get out to go to the pond or to chase gofers. I am sad to have lost him, but I think I would have been sadder yet to see him locked up day after day and miserable like he was when we were at the duplex. Some dogs are just born to run and with that comes a certain amount of danger or risk. There are certain idiots who drive 90 mph down this road and I hope the bad karma comes back to get them if they in fact ran over our Beau. I'm glad he had 4 happy years with us and we will miss him.

Beau

2006-12-22T13:45:00.000-06:00

If you are a MOM,

2006-12-09T00:57:00.000-06:00

or even if you have a MOM, you should read this. So touching and so true.

We are sitting at lunch one day when my daughter casually mentions that
she and her husband are thinking of "starting a family." "We're taking a
survey," she says half-joking. "Do you think I should have a baby?"
"It will change your life," I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral. "I
know," she says, "no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous
vacations."
But that is not what I meant at all. I look at my daughter, trying to
decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in
childbirth classes.
I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child-bearing will heal,
but becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that
she will forever be vulnerable. I consider warning her that she will never
again read a newspaper without asking, "What if that had been MY child?"
That every plane crash and every house fire will haunt her. That when she
sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be
worse than watching your child die.
I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no
matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the
primitive level of a bear protecting her cub. That an urgent call of
"Mom!" will cause her to drop a soufflé r her best crystal without a
moment's hesitation.
I feel that I should warn her that no matter how many years she has
invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood.
She might arrange for childcare, but one day she will be going into an
important business meeting and she will think of her baby's sweet smell.
She will have to use every ounce of discipline to keep from running home,
just to make sure her baby is all right.
I want my daughter to know that every day decisions will no longer be
routine. That a five year old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather
than the women's at McDonald's will become a major dilemma. That right
there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of
independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that
a child molester may be lurking in that restroom.
However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself
constantly as a mother. Looking at my attractive daughter, I want to
assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but she
will never feel the same about herself. That her life, now so important,
will be of less value to her once she has a child. That she would give
herself up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope
for more years, not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child
accomplish theirs.
I want her to know that a cesarean scar or shiny stretch marks will become
badges of honor. My daughter's relationship with her husband will change,
and not in the way she thinks. I wish she could understand how much more
you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never
hesitates to play with his child. I think she should know that she will
fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very
unromantic. I wish my daughter could sense the bond she will feel with
women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice and drunk
driving.
I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child
learn to ride a bike. I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby
who is touching the soft fur of a dog or cat for the first time. I want
her to taste the joy that is so real it actually hurts.
My daughter's quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my
eyes. "You'll never regret it," I finally say. Then I reached across the
table, squeezed my daughter's hand and offered a silent prayer for her,
and for me, and for all the mere mortal women who stumble their way into
this most wonderful of callings.
Please share this with a Mom that you know or all of your girlfriends who
may someday be Moms.
May you always have in your arms the one who is in your heart!

Note to Family

2006-12-02T17:57:00.000-06:00

type people... I added 3 pics to the end of my snow slide show. They are worth looking at. I also changed the slide show so you can speed it up to get there faster!

Let's give Mom a heart attack!

2006-11-30T23:47:00.000-06:00

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2006-11-30T22:58:00.000-06:00

Park fun/ Pic fun for me

2006-11-28T02:10:00.000-06:00

Iowa Top Ten

2006-11-27T23:18:00.000-06:00

Feeding the Swans with Daddy.

Sad...b/c kids think life needs to be one big party... I love this shot, though.
Downtown Atlantic dressed up for the holidays..
More Swan feeding fun.
We took the kids to a couple of parks Friday afternoon.
Leaf throwing fun....this is right before the sad face. It was the result of the leaf fun ending.
Closer shot of the town all dressed up. It's really quite a pain to take pics of Christmas lights. Took probably 20 shots to get 2 decent ones.
"Helping" Grandma in the kitchen. Mostly eating the grapes, but she really enjoyed it.
Playing dress up with Whitney at Aunt Jessica's house. Lovin those earrings!
And more dress up fun below with the scarf Grandma made her and some necklaces.

I'm a cup half full kind of person....

2006-11-17T23:57:00.000-06:00

usually so I show most of the happy good times on here. Our life is filled with happy good times, but there are moments of insanity where I want to strangle the kid. She's thrown 2 "outta control" fits. I kind of just have to wait out the insanity and make her about as miserable as she is making me. I'd like to get at least one of those on video so I can show her what a little toot she can be at times. Right now when she's in a "mood", I get a lot of "I don't want to____" As long as she does whatever it is that she doesn't wanna...then I don't make a huge deal of it.

My point is that I am using my blog, journals, and scrapbooks to document her childhood and I want to be accurate. I want her to know what kind of kid she was and what our day to day life was like. Mom and I were talking and she has forgotten so much of our stuff from when were little. It just happens so fast and memories fade if there is nothing to document them.

OK so today was one of those "day to day" days. I think the highlights of the day include taking a bubblebath, watching a movie, ordering some pizza, and playing Caillou games on the computer together. Besides that she had her day of watching some shows, playing on her slide, and in her room. I did laundry, vacuumed, unloaded dishwasher, and scrapbooked a few pages.

Today she was a sweetheart. We'll see which personality I get tomorrow. ;)

Too cute to boot!

2006-11-14T23:19:00.000-06:00

A girl just needs a coat and matching boots! (see slideshow below)

We've been busy, busy. We took advantage of the weather last week and went to the park a couple times. Saturday evening we spent the evening with the fam for Uncle N's birthday. Here is a pic from that. Nice hat! Somebody has the big head from turning the big 5-0 I guess.

Been out Christmas shopping today, but managed a quick stop by the park. We had a pretty good shopper today for a 2 year old. We're taking it easy tomorrow.

Not a lotta new....just living the good life of the sahm... :-) Scrappin, shoppin, cookin, eatin, sleepin, cleanin, foldin, talkin, lovin, huggin, kissin, and thanking God for each day that I get to do it all over again.

Cute in the boots!

2006-11-14T23:16:00.000-06:00

OK-LA-hO-Ma

2006-11-07T16:09:00.000-06:00

I get this look a lot, especially if I ask her to perform. I've been told she's good at the "looks" like her Mama. Heard a song yesterday about a little boy watching his daddy and wanting to be just like him. It was so sweet. Made me think because I see her acting a LOT like me. I figure I need proof now, before rebellion hits. If what they say about your kid giving you back what you gave your parents, I may be a bit of trouble. Not too much, but some.

She broke our run of good sleeping. She had been sleeping in till after 10 am and hey i'm so not a morning person, so I'll take it. Today she was up around 6:30. I had to get up at 8 when her daddy left and take over. Wish me luck on the sleep tomorrow. We went to see the Santa Clause 3 with Mamaw. It was so cute. I think her favorite part was the end where they played 2 songs (during credits) and since we had the theater to ourselves, I let her dance in front of the big screen. It was a sweet moment.

Before we left, I was playing around and got a few cute minutes on video.

Oklahoma video clip

That's all I have for now.....

Pumpkins

2006-10-31T23:49:00.000-06:00

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Post & Song...

2006-10-29T23:27:00.000-06:00

Music often touches me deeply. Today as I was leaving the park after having wrestled my fit-throwing toddler into her carseat, this (in the post below) song came on.It was perfect. I needed it. She was so upset because she wasn't ready to leave, and she was very tired. This came at just the right time. It helped me to take a deep breath, put on my prozac face and just enjoy the moment. Enjoy the moment? Huh? Yeah, I know. But I was just glad to have her after being away from her for a couple days. And I could take joy in the fact that I was being a good parent. I had told her that she could pick one more thing to do and then we would be leaving. Well when I tried to take her hand, she ran and got back on the equipment. I pulled her off and told her that she could either walk to the car, or I could carry her, but if she continued to throw a fit, she would get a spanking. As I'm saying this, a dad was sitting on the bench and he gave me a knowing look and a wink. It helped at that moment. It was a been there done that, you're doing good kind of nod. Anyhow, she got that spanking and she
got quiet for a good 10 or 15 minutes(after she fought me about getting in the carseat) This song came on and just made the moment somehow okay. So besides that 30 minutes of the day, it has been a wonderful day, and I missed my kid something crazy. I think 1 night apart is all I can handle for a while. I am finding that I need her as much as she needs me.

That last paragraph focuses on the 30 minutes that wasn't too great out of the day. Most of it was nice, though. I went to get her first thing this morning and spent the morning over at Mom's house. She was just playing and having fun over there. Took her a little bit to forgive me for "abandoning" her for the weekend. We left there and came home to get ready to go to lunch and the park since it was so very beautiful today. I'm going to try to get out tomorrow and should have cute pics to share!

I am so blessed...

2006-10-29T17:30:00.000-06:00

I get kissed by the sun each morning
Put my feet on a carpeted floor
I get to hear my child laughin'
Down the hall through the bedroom door
Sometimes (ok a lot of times) I sit on my front porch swing
Just soakin' up the day
I think to myself, I think to myself
This world is a beautiful place

I have been blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given
At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones that love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

Across a crowded room
I know you know what I'm thinkin'
By the way I look at you
And when we're lying in the quiet
And no words have to be said
I think to myself, I think to myself
This love is a beautiful gift

I have been blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given
At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones that love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

When I, When I'm singing my kids to sleep
When I feel you holding me
I know

I am so blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given
At the end of every day
I have been blessed

by Martina McBride (edited by ME)

Slide Show

2006-10-26T15:15:00.000-06:00

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

My little dancing queen...

2006-10-25T22:04:00.000-06:00

who doesn't feel like dancing today. She talked me into letting her nap on the couch and that resulted in this:
She is not one to just fall asleep on her own. So this is proof that she wasn't quite up to par today. Usually there is a whole nap routine, and even then sometimes, she just won't nap. This only lasted about and hour, but she was a pretty happy kid all evening. The fact that B curled up beside her is just too precious. I hope it's a view of many naps to come.

Here is a video
that many of you may have already seen, but I know of at least a few who haven't. It's worth the click. :-D It's from the summer and ties into the title. I may have another to share soon. I'm busy figuring all this out now that I have a decent connection. TTFN

La la la la, la la la la, Murry's World

2006-10-14T22:52:00.000-06:00

The world according to Murry...

Today my mommy came and got me out of my bed. We had our silent morning milk/pop as Mom isn't the big morning person. Then we got ready and went to work the garage sale with Mamaw, Nana, and Aunt Weez. When I got there there was a whole bucket of stuffed toys that hadn't been there the day before. I played with them, I laid in them, entertained myself a while while the women were busy selling and yakking. Then my Uncle Neal showed up. I have always been standoffish (ok scared to death) of him. But lately, I am figuring out he is a good guy. He can just pull his leg off, which honestly scares the bejeezus out of me. But today, I decided to give him a try and we walked down to see the pumpkins, and spent a lot of time walking together and chasing each other....and just laughing and having a good time. I let him hold me without screaming at the top of my lungs. It is definitely progress for me.

We had lunch and I didn't eat mine since I had snacked too much. Mom wasn't too happy with that. I bet I don't get snacks tomorrow morning. :(

I told them I was tired so I went in with Nana to watch Ariel, but I did not fall asleep. I can fight sleep like a champ!

I am doing good with this potty thing. I pooped in the potty yesterday which is big for me since I haven't done that in like 6 months. And today I used the potty all day! Mom is so proud and she is letting me wear my pretty fairy dresses as a treat. She says keep going and soon I can wear all my cool panties. Whoohoo!

Anyway, back to today. My favorite 2nd cousin Jessi got home from work and played with me a while and tried to get me to nap on the couch with her. Ha ha sucker! Look who fell asleep...not me...

So by this time, I was in full fledged cranky mode and wondering why mom wasn't making me take a nap. I then went into a fit, but Mom calmed me down till I had to day goodbye to everyone. I just can't help myself when I get so tired. So mom put me in the car and I was out in a couple miles. When we got home she carried me in and I patted her and told her I love you. Mom is always telling me she loves me, and now it just makes her so happy when I tell her that.

So I zonked out for a couple hours till Mom came in to get me. She flew in and I tried to pretend like I had been awake, but I was so sleepy I could barely hold my eyes open. Anyhow she gets me up and kisses me a whole lot and then we go for a walk. I want to walk with her, but she says she needs to walk fast, whatever that is about. She tries to make it fun for me tho, with a snack and a drink, and a toy or some music to listen to. That and then she does silly stuff with the stroller that I really love. She pops wheelies, and then goes side to side which makes my legs flop around.

After our walk, we had dinner. I had chicken with ranch and fruit. My favorite! Mom had her leftover fajitas. We watched a Sesame Street rerun. Good times....

Then we played in the floor a little while. Then Mom said let's have a movie and popcorn party. I like the word party so I was in! She popped the popcorn and made a pallet in the floor. We watch Brother Bear together. I get up and dance around her during all the songs. Mom doesn't dance with me as much as she used to cause of her foot. She wants to let it heal and she says that dancing seems to hurt it. I have kissed her foot a lot cause I want it to get better and it makes me sad that she won't dance with me the way she used to. :(

We had a good time, and then right when the movie was over, Daddy called from hunting..whereever that is... I told him all about everything he had missed. I was cracking mom up! I would say little phrases with a lot of mumbling in between.....

ghosts and pumpkins and I touched it... like this...and the bear RRRRoarrrr.....chicken....PBS kids...B...popcorn....

Mom diedlaughing when I said PBS kids! I didn't see what was so funny, I was just telling Dad about Sesame Street. Adults, I swear.....

Then when I got off the phone it was time for bed. What a day!

Parkin' It

2006-10-04T21:43:00.000-06:00

Another fun park day. Am wasn't as happy about the slides for some reason. Maybe next time. She went down a few times, but then got scared. There weren't near as many kids around and I think that makes a difference. She especially wants to do what she sees older kids doing. Her sense of fear has really kicked in lately. She has suddenly becom scared of the dark and monsters. She used to walk into a dark room with no fear, but now she's scared. May have somthing to do with seeing the "scary movie" boxes at Blockbuster. It's nearly impossible for her to not see them when we go to rent movies. Going down the small slide and giving me a rare smile without haggling about it.
Logan having a blast on the rocker-thingy. I have more pics of him for you, Lisa.
I am 2 years old Mommy. Or peace out... ;)

Climbing up all by herself. What a difference a year makes. She's getting more and more coordinated, but still has spills occasionally. I have a few more I might try to share from this park day, but not enough patience to mess with it tonight.

After the park we went to Quiznos and then hit the trails where the mommies walked 4..count'em 4 miles. Boy were we tired afterwards, but a good tired. I think that 4 miles is the only thing that saved me from gaining weight on my weekend'o mexican food. I am challenging myself to lose 5 more lbs by the end of the month. I need to get over this next hurdle and then I can hang out there a while. I don't care that I'm doing it inch by inch, as long as I'm doing it! I'm down 20 lbs btw. I seem to lose 5 then hang out there for a month and then lose 5 more and so on and so on. So this should be the month to lose 5! I can do this. I can do this. I can do this!

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears!

2006-09-28T22:16:00.000-06:00

Watching the sea lions. I propped her up there and the brake is on! Today was Zoo day with one of my mommy groups. Seems like many exhibits were under constructions or the animals just weren't cooperating...but so it goes..

Highlights

got to watch a snake eat a mouse.....
petting the goats
riding the train
seeing the zebras and giraffes
the butterfly exhibit

D is taking her back in a few weeks and they are gonna catch some of the stuff we didn't get to.

Sittin' on the neck of the turtle....
Two little monkeys looking at some monkeys.
Wings of Wonder... Pretty neat to have all those butterflies in one place, but not exactly toddler-friendly.
Petting the goat's butt.
Not even zoo related. This is my official beater licker. I made a chocolate diet pepsi cake. It was a hit with at least one person.
The crew checking out the sea lions.

Si- a Nara...

Blog Slacker

2006-09-24T23:03:00.000-06:00

spends all spare time scrappin, playing with kid, and generally hanging. I can be totally busy doing absolutely nothing. I was never one of those kids who was "bored" all the time. I can always find something to read, or tinker with. Today Murry and I spent some good time blowing bubbles and painting on the porch. I scrapped a few pages, made a cake, and just puttered around the house.

Here are a couple of pics from last week. I have more, but I am scrapping them so if you want to see them, you'll have to check out the scrapbooks. I save the best ones for the books.

Two cuties sittin in a truck in the park. They took turns driving and playing with the gear shifter. Hee hee... They played so hard we didn't hear a peep out them during the 2 mile walk we took later on. L fell asleep and AM just took it all in. Go mommies, get fit...they rooted us on..;)
One little angel sitting in the bubbles. She just loves bath time. The new toy is that bottle. Fill it up, pour it out. She enjoys the bubbles it makes as it fills up, and I enjoy teasin her about tootin' in the tub. Hillbilly jacuzzibath... ;)

Trisha tagged me with somthing about 7 songs...so I'll do my best... I listen to the radio mostly and just scan till I find something...so I'm all over the place.

I loved her first.... by i have no idea...it's country..if you hear it listen...if you have a have a girl or you are a daddy's girl it will make you cry..have tissues
Beauty and the Beast...the song...we've been on a B&B kick around here.
Sitting on the Dock of the Bay..... Otis Redding..I think..
Anything by Green Day...
Anything by Trace Atkins including Be Donk Be Donk...or wth the name of that song is...
My Little Girl (or something to that effect) by Tim McGraw
Always crank up some good Rob Zombi..but not with the kid around so get your panties out of a wad! I save that for my walk or when I'm alone in the car. Some music was just made to enjoy by yourself anyhow.

I know no one. So I tag everyone and no one. If you read and you blog you are tagged. If you don't blog, then you are part of my no one, but I still love ya!

I have a super busy week planned this week, so I'm off to bed. I should have more pics to share by the end of the week if I can find the time to blog! Something's always gotta give....

Ramblings from Murry's Mom...

2006-09-13T22:25:00.000-06:00

Sleep is such a precious sight. I love to nap with her and I always spend the first 20 minutes just watching her sleep peacefully and then the next hour being kicked in the back....and then just when I'm getting good and into the nap, I hear...Mommy...get up!

Murry requires her dolly, Holly, and this threadbare yellow blanket for superb sleeping.

Sleep is also what I should be doing, but my kilter is off. I am having some insomnia issues that i haven't had in a long time. I can be totally tired and when I go to bed, I can't seem to get to sleep. Then today I was so tired from the whole 5 hours I got last night, that I took a nice 2 hr nap when the girl did....so here i am!

I had my 2nd dr. appt for my foot. On the last one they gave me a shot in the foot. It's no ordinary shot. She must have drug it out 3 minutes moving the needle around. Ick! I was fine during the shot. But after..... I went to pay out, and the lady was talking to me, and all I could think was that my world was going dark. I said I have to sit down and I did so right there in the floor. This has happened to me a few times. I do fine till 10 minutes after the fact! Once was when my dog got the sharp end of the chain link fence run thru her eyelid. I was fine to take it out for her and save the poor thing, but a few minutes later, I was hyperventilating. The other was when I had my cartilage peirced. Call me crazy, but once we got out into the mall, and I felt of it thru the stiff cartilage.......there I was sitting in the floor...trying not to pass out. LOL!

So anyhow my foot feels tons better & I pray it continues to improve. I wish I'd gone in months ago! The doc said to give it a good month with my new shoe inserts, a sleeping splint, icing it, and the cortizone shot. I am very optimistic!

Am is sick...again! Tonight she was running a 102 degree fever. Today has been the worst day so far. With all these dr appt's I've had, I ve been dragging the poor thing around too much. Tomorrow, we veg. out and hopefully she will recoup fast! Poor kid. She was just miserable tonight till her fever came down. I am going to have to get her a flu shot this year and get very vigilant on my chlorox wipes. I had hoped this was allergies since it started out with snot and sneezing, but it's getting worse. Much worse than last time. Last time could have possibly been allergies, but not this one.

Pass Your Plate.... I am loving this! Dinner in 30 minutes. It's already prepped. (by me so it's still homemade) Cleanup is easy. My husband isn't griping about having to eat Mexican food, again!, and they even give you the ww points. I couldn't have asked for anything better. It came on the reccomendation of my dear Aunt Weez. So thank you very much! Dan thanks you, too! Next months menu looks scrumptious.

I'm a list girl. I always have 3 lists going with stuff moving all over from one to the other. I have a TODAY list, a TOMORROW/THIS WEEK list and a HOPEFULLY THIS MONTH one. I don't see a lot getting done on any of them. Tomorrow will probably be a lot of cuddling and watching movies. I might sneak in a load of laundry and if I get my butt in bed, soon, I might even get something done during naptime.

That's all I got. I love you all. And G'night!

More...cause

2006-09-08T22:10:00.000-06:00

I know you were sitting on the edge of your seat.... We hit the park with Trisha & Tally the other day. Lisa was supposed to make it, but had a sickie at the last minute. We never are all well at once it seems.

AM went down the slide no less than 50 times, I bet. She's a big girl and can do it by herself this year. In some ways such a big girl... in some ways still such a baby.... The last one is of Tally waiting for her to come down..and well eating cheerios, or carrying them around. There was one super sweet moment When T got up on the step and wasn't sure how she wanted to get down. AM went and offered her a hand and helped her down. It was too cute! This is my what a difference a year makes. Here are 2 pics of her at the splash pad that are almost exactly a year apart. See how big my girlie is getting... No wonder she doesn't know whether she's a big girl or a baby, I go back and forth on this issue myself. She's definitely growing up fast, though!

Flowers for mommy, picked by my little darling. She got these from when she went to stay with Nana so I could go to the Dr's office. She really enjoys going over there, where the word no and all likenesses of NO...become basically nonexistent...lol! But really, they do have fun together!

Going to scrap tomorrow! Whoooooooooooohooooooo Good night!!!!

Update

2006-09-08T15:30:00.000-06:00

Well we are all recovered from the sickies. Since we all got it at staggered times, it was a nice, long drawn out 2 weeks thing with a sinus nasty that held on even when you thought you were better. I wasn't on the computer too much during that time. I actually watched entire movies which is almost unheard of for me! And several at that! Usually if I have a spare minute, I am cleaning, doing laundry, walking, or scrapping!!! That's of course after I have spent time with my best girl....

She danced with the best of them for 1.5 hrs at Josh & Amber's wedding. I have video, but it would take too long to upload! It's a hoot!The view from the front. Little white flowers all up in her hair.... And carrying Mamaw's purse. Ecpect Scrapbook pages soon!!!
Opening what turned out to be a definite favorite gift, though she has really loved and enjoyed all her birthday gifts. She has a blast with her babies, and her new table...and loves pushing around her shopping cart with her new food in it...in dress up high heels...LOL It's a sight!
Strawberry Shortcake cake! Oh so yummy and oh so HUGE! Next year, we're cutting back the size of that cake. It was scrumptious though. And come to find out, made with applesauce and not oil. Moist, and delish!

Hanging out with Daddy! This was the day of the wedding...her actual birthday. Big 2 year old! We gave her a bubble bath in the frontyard. Does that say hillbilly to you? LMAO!

More to come...

Sick of the sick

2006-08-27T22:15:00.000-06:00

Well we've all been sick here. First was Murry, then Daddy, and now Mommy. I haven't been sick but 2 times since I had Murry and started my gig as a SAHM. I sure do not miss it. Anyhow, we all got it a few days apart from each other, so it's really been dragging on. I'm the last one to get it and I'm right in the worst of it. I have pics to share, but no energies to do it. Maybe later in the week...

More on the Girl who is my world....

2006-08-16T22:00:00.000-06:00

Her cheesin with Mamaw on one of our infamous lunch dates...or right before it anyhow. If you look real hard, you can see a pic of her in the background. Also one of me and Uncle R. MMMMMmmmm...Pumpkin Pasty Batter. Super DElish! 1 box yellow cake mix, 1 can pumpkin and 5 oz of cinnamon chips...3 pts per muffin. NO egg or oil! Add more chips if you are going for taste alone!
One of my favorite recent pics that I took of AM. She didn't want to smile for me, but I can almost alway make her laugh. She didn't want to, but couldn't resist, then tried to turn away from me, but I'm fast on the trigger.. ;)
We've been hitting the splashpark in Jenks lately with a good friend of mine and her little one. AM was leery at first, but she really got into it when Mommy got in with her. It was so hot the last time we went that I just stayed wet! I think I'm gonna need another one of those splashpad days again, soon.
Ok I haven't been blogging. I've been spending my time scrapbooking. I have very little to myself and I know that when #2 comes along it will be crunched even more. So my goal will b to update weekly so that I can scrap as well. This one was just for my Uncle Neal who called me on the not blogging. BTW, she's been talking about you...she may be quiet and not talk to you, but she listens...and now she thinks you're a nice guy. hee hee..

Life gets busy..but I still take pictures... ;)

2006-07-16T00:02:00.000-06:00

Tonight AM was so excited to go over and play with Jewel. She's so good with her and I know she's loving hanging out with the older kids. She thinks she is one. For example I caught her climbing up on the top bunk. Scaaaary!
Helping daddy water the trees. Notice the lack of a tree here, but she's trying.
Cheesing out with Mamaw. This is one of my favorite shots of those two. Definitely a keeper!

Fireworks over the 4th. It was a great show! Murry liked it, but she kept her ears covered almost the whole time. It would have been the whole time, but someone broke out some ice cream and a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. ;) Murry likes to "paint" on the porch. She's had many hours of good fun doing this and we enjoy watching her and joining in. We give her a sponge brush and some water (clear paint we tell her. She plays along and calls it paint, but she's slipped and said water a few times too.. So we think she's onto us....
Swimming in the pool today, and even smiling for the camera. Lately I can't get a smile so this is definitely gonna be one of my favorite shots of this age.

So I'm busy doing a whole lotta nothin, but isn't that the best kind of busy?

Don't give up..

2006-07-07T10:04:00.000-06:00

on me. Life's been busy and Murry's been feeling bad, so I have been spending all my time with her. Life will return to normal and I will blog again soon. :-D

Gone Fishin'

2006-06-27T14:26:00.000-06:00

Murry's first fishing trip. We headed out to the pond Saturday evening and it was quite a drive, but luckily it was right after nap, so we had a happy baby...if I can even call her that anymore. She had the most fun playing in the dirt and throwing shells in the water. I made sure to super duper spray us with off...and not a single chigger or tick..whoohooo! Because that's what moms worry about. Beside getting totally dirty and throwing things in the water, she did stop to help reel in a few fish. I had fun, too. I caught a lot of perch, 4or5 small bass, and one little turtle. Poor D was so busy taking care of the two of us, that he didn't get to catch too much, but he got a few.Reeling one in together...

Very carefully touching it... She said, "It's beautiful, Daddy"One of Dan's few moments of relaxing. I just loved the sky and it was such a pretty evening out..
All that fishing made someone so thirsty she drank ALL of Mom's water. :-D

Still enjoying my new camera as you can see. Well ta-ta for now!

Been snapping away....

2006-06-22T16:15:00.000-06:00

on new the camera! Miss Chocolate Lips got her daddy a big candy bar and a key chain for Father's Day. I'm sure she was hoping he'd share the candy bar, and he did which is why she looks like she's been in the lipstick here. I got D the hat, and he has had offers of $$$ for it which cracks me up since I thought he might find it ugly in the first place.Daddy and Murry all decked out right down to the sunscreen for some good mowing fun! D's last scare with another possible melanoma has made him finally start being better about the sunscreen.
Lisa and Trisha came over for a playdate today. Here is Logan enjoying water all over himself. They were all such little cuties out there.
And here is Miss Tally showing off her cheese face. Where is the camera? she says...cheese!

I didn't really get a good one of Murry from today. She kind of sat on the sidelines even though she was excited about swimming earlier in the day. I hope she is feeling ok...

We did go to another movies Tues and Murry played with the kids afterward at McD's which she really enjoyed. Hmmm... hope that isn't coming back to bite us.....germwise....

Anyway, that about gets you caught up on us lately. We've just been playing, porching, and having a grand ole time!

To the world you may be just another little girl....

2006-06-12T22:25:00.000-06:00

but to me you are the world....

Ok I stole it from a song I heard today, but it sums it all up. I know no one loves looking at pics of my kid as much as I do, but here they are anyhow! Plus it is my blog...

Sunday she was all about the dirt. We pulled the little dog pool around to the front and she had a blast while the guys planted the trees.

Turns out her eyes are blue and not red. I had a lot of trouble with red-eye from my last camera, but not too much with this one so far. That wil lbe nice since the people in the pics will look less demented.

One of the new crepe myrtles.....it says they are country red, but I live in the country and I call that pink! Thanks to Dad for finding the sale, and taking me to get trees! This has been one of my best birthdays in a long while...

Tonight I slowed down and really enjoyed life. I made us some BLT's for dinner. I used lean bacon (the real stuff) 4 slices for 2 pts and it kicks turkey bacon's ass. While the bacon was cooking, I cranked the radio up and danced with the girl. She had so much fun! I have to remember to be spontaneous and just have fun. Sometimes I get to worried about getting everything done, and forget to let loose. Okay, not for long, but sometimes I forget. Then I took her on a walk, and she loved it. It's been a while since we went on a walk, and when we pulled the stroller into the garage, she said, "again?" So I'm gonna have to take her more often. My foot will have to help decide how much more often, but definitely more often!

During the day, I think, hey I'll put that on my blog! Then at night I sit down here, and I forget many of those little things. So I'll try to jot them down so I can remember. I was jotting, then I thought I could rely on my memory, but I think we all know better ;)

My deep thought of the day....

If you want what you have, then you always have what you want!

I think I may have done that one b4, but I love it so much...

My new toy!

2006-06-11T00:07:00.000-06:00

I got a new camera whooohoo! Murry just thought I was a picture taking fool before. She better watch out now!

The girls in the shades have it..

2006-06-09T22:21:00.000-06:00

Miss Cool here.. I told her to stick her hands in her pockets, and smile! So she got one part right and the other close. She's been wanting some sunglasses, so one day while we were out running around, I had to stop to pick her up a couple cheap pairs from the $ store. This is the pair I picked. She already broke the ones she picked, but I have a pic of her in them at least....somewhere..
Jess came over today and we got some sun. Here are the girls looking cool in their shades.

AM had so much fun going up and down the slide. I bet she went up/down no less than 50 times today. The best part was when she squatted and peed a river down the slide, I bet you haven't seen me and Jessi move so fast in a while. We were both up and out of the pool in seconds. The pool was empty minutes later. End of swim day.

She has my eyes doesn't she?

2006-06-09T15:43:00.000-06:00

Here's a recent pic of me and the Am'ster. Not the best of her, but the only one that turned out of me. It's hard to take pics of yourself and a squirming toddler. Plus I think she's cute no matter how silly of a face she's making, and I'm not partial at all... ;)

Well I had a whole post worked up and Blogger ate it. And now I don't want to redo all that. Yes, I know I should have made a back-up, but it was late and I didn't want to mess with it, so I just hit the publish key and got the "sorry" we ate your hour's worth of work message! Grrrr...

Miss Murry and I went to her first movie yesterday. We went to "Spirit", or as Murry is telling everyone, Spirit the horses. She enjoyed it as far as I can tell. She was a good girl anyhow. Lisa tried to take Logan, but he wasn't into it. Sorry it didn't work out Lisa! Hopefully he'll make it through next time. Next movie I plan to have snacks ready and in the bag. There was a lull right in the middle of the movie where we could have used a snack, but other than that, she watched and we quietly talked about what was going on. I plan to take her to see more soon now that I know she can handle it, and they have all these free kids movies in the summer. Can't beat the price, and sometimes it's just too hot for the park.

Here is a pic of the bulletin board I made for my mom. She was wanting something scrappy-style. It's my first and there are a few mistakes that I can improve on my next one. Live and learn, eh?

More of my exciting life to follow, unless I get distracted or lazy tonight...which just almost never happens....hee hee

Just a quick pic post...no deep thoughts involved

2006-05-29T22:50:00.000-06:00

AM in her 'jumpa jump" that her and Daddy made a slide out of while we waited for the poolwater to heat up.

We had a little picnic out on the porch at am's new picnic table. Thanks to Nana for that cute find. She loves it! It spent most of the weekend parked in the living room in front of the TV...until today.

Just a good Dorito face shot! Plus the pretty blue eyes!

Dinner and dancing! Ok well, lunch and then shaking your booty on the deck, but fun all the same!

I had another pic on here, but blogger ate it. Maybe tomorrow. Anyway we had a nice relaxing day hanging by the pool. Baby pool, but oh well! Working on my tan...or growing my freckles together, one of the two.

Porching, taking life slow.....and visiting with neighbors...

2006-05-27T14:10:00.000-06:00

We go out about everyday to watch for our people to get home from work. Here she is looking for cars to come down the road. I give her a heads up when I hear a car. We can always hear Mamaw when she turns the corner, however. Yep Mamaw's got some pipes on her truck. hee hee....of the whole group, she's the last one you'd expect to have a "loud" car. In this particular pic tho, it's Daddy coming up the drive......

Here's the setup for listening to some good bedtime tunes. I think I"ve heard "This Little Bed" a few thousand times now. She can just listen to it over and over. She's become the queen of stalling at bedtime, but sometimes it's just sooo darn sweet.

Here I had told her I had to go make dinner and she hopped up on the couch and started reading a book. I was in shock and had to take a picture since usually she follows me to the kitchen and ask tons of questions until I ignore her and she goes off to play. Soooo nice when they actually do something you want them to once in awhile.

Then she realized I was taking pictures and had to pose and be a cheezer. Whatta little ham! She's reading Bambi by the way. Having a Bambi kick over here, lately. When she watches the movie, and it comes to the part where the mama deer is killed. She hears the gunshot and says, "Bambi pooted?" We always say Yes! Then when he's searching for his mom, she keeps asking, "Where's mother?" Soooo sad. I have to just tell her she must be lost. At which I get a strange look....

This little guy decided to join us last night in our porching. I guess you could call him a neighbor. He was hanging out in the front yard, possibly in a gopher hole. There are few animals I want to see killed....but snakes, any snakes are on that list! He's a bullsnake and about 5 1/2 feet long. He's the 2nd biggest one we've seen out here. We will tread lightly in the dark, and try to remember those darn flashlights!

So we're staying home a lot more, and just taking it easy. When you are out in the country, there is always something to do outside in the evening once it cools off a bit. And if there's not anything, then there is always porching.

A splatter of my mind onscreen, and just for you!

2006-05-24T21:18:00.000-06:00

This is what AM looks like on cleaning day. She gets out the vacuum to "help" me clean which last about 10 minutes. Then she looks like this. For those who don't know, our TV is over that way. Bambi played twice today, but the house is very clean.

How stinking cute are these? Ok, they aren't the best looking shoes in the world, but they are great on my bad foot, and the matching pair for little me are adorable!!! Thanks Mamaw!

These are perfect for running to the mailbox, or walking back and forth to the grandparent's house.

Oh and they go good with that dress she had on and with lots of dirt of course. Very patriotic, too.

I finally saw it and got the confirmation. I was brushing along and saw the little white source of all our pain, misery, and whining lately. The tooth, the two-year molar tooth. My child used to sleep in till about 10am every day, and now she's up with the chickens...6, 7, maybe 8 if we're real super duper lucky. I wanted a new schedule, but not this one! Hopefully after these teeth come in she will sleep in till the decent hour of at least 8 everyday, preferably 9.

Ok that's my gripe for the day..had to get it out.

Tonight we were sitting on the porch over at the folks house (porching is a sport around here) and Miss Murry decide to just take off toward the house....and we let her go just to see if she would go by herself. She walks all the way over to our house (like a couple hundred feet away). She walks up on the porch, and pushes her bubble mower over to the other end, grabs a few rocks and then brings them all the way back over to us. Ummmm when did she get big enough to do that? She looked so very tiny walking allll the way over there by herself.

Back to "porching", does anyone else make a sport out of this? We used to at the lakehouse, which is sadly missed at times. Now we have a couple big porches around and we tend to gather on them everyday after work. Murry watches for the trucks to come home. Mamaw, Papaw, Daddy, and Uncle Ricky.... Almost seems like I should have me 5 or 6 kids just to fill up these big porches, right?

I try very hard to be one who is grateful for what I have. I try to take pleasure in my daily rounds. This can be challenging when your daily round is about the same. Cleaning, cooking, laundry, and taking care of a little one. Most of the time I love it, but sometime I miss the recognition I got from a job outside the home. There was the money, all the apprecitation from my students and their parents. Not to mention the other teachers. But there are a few hundred things I DO not miss about teaching, and the thought of leaving my kiddo with someone else all day....I just don't think I could do it. I'm not ready yet. The first day of school will be very, very hard....for me.

A few of those things I do not miss:

GRADING papers!
paperwork, paperwork, paperwork...
super challenging behavior problems...and I'm not talking 'a little ornery' here
recess duty!!
lack of funds for meeting objectives that are required..not to mention for anything "extra"
gripy parents who do not hold their kids responsible for bad behavior/late work/ disrespect, etc.
personally...having to get up and be all "made-up" and ready to go by 7:30. Yucko!

Things that ROCK about being a mom:

the love
the sweet/tender moments
watching them grow and change
being home with her/not missing out on the "firsts"
playdates
storytime

I could go on all day, but we all know that this post is getting terribly long. And those who know me well, know I should go to bed already. So g'night and I'll leave you with this thought...

If nothing changes, nothing changes. -a lady from WW's

Teething bites..

2006-05-21T21:49:00.000-06:00

if you know what I mean. Anyone with a kiddo under the age of 2 probably does. If you want to know how today went....look down a couple posts. She was Miss Turkey today. Did okay till about 12 or 1 pm. The rest of the day, including her 30 minute nap...was a gonner. It was one of those days where you just can't wait for the sweet relief of bedtime. which finally came a little after 9. I was afraid to go any earlier since I'm not fond of being woke up before 6am. So we're due for a good day tomorrow, right?

This little bed....

2006-05-20T22:32:00.000-06:00

Friday we had a playdate and grocery shopping date with the 2T's...Trisha and Tally. Is this not the sweetest, most peaceful, thing you have ever seen...like ever? The girls had so much fun playing together. Ann-Maries kept saying, " Tally in the bedroom" which is AM speak for c'mon Tally get in here...
All in all a nice day, but we did keep them out at the store too long and had a couple meltdowns right at the end which resulted in this....T was out before we got out of the parking lot and AM was just right behind her. Ahh the blessed silence of the sleeping babes....

This is my little cowgirl. She's so into trying on my shoes and now she's getting into sunglasses. She picked out this pair herself. :D Doesn't she look proud of herself? And those are my new house-shoes that they got me for Mother's Day! My other ones were about 5 years old!

More of my girl just goofing out.

She's wearing Uncle Ricky's colors. We thought of him when we picked up this OSU dress. Always been more of an OU girl myself. Mostly because I like red more than orange.....not the best reason to pick a team. Hmmm hmmm Anyhow since Uncle Ricky goes to OSU now, we have gotten her lots of orange OSU stuff. She got compliments from many ppl while we were out today. I guess the OU fans were nice enough to keep their mouth closed.

D & I were talking today about how she seems like a girly girl one day, and a little tomboy the next. I hope she stays that way. Secure in that she's a woman, but unafraid to do whatever she wants to do. Right now that boils down to eating dirt, and sticking it in her diaper, but you know what I mean.

Things that make you go AWWWW...well maybe not you, but me for sure

Tonight as I was sitting down to get my computer warmed up for the evening....just about Murry's bedtime, she comes in and asks me in just the sweetest voice, "Mama go play in the bedroom?" Now how could I resist that? Couldn't. So I went in to see what we would "play". I try to let her lead. She wanted to sit in the tent. So we got some pillows and a few stuffed animals. She wanted to sing songs, so we turned the light out, and put the pixie lamp on and sang away. Then I remembered seeing one of her CD's laying around, so I went to grab it and we listened to some Toddler Tunes! She thought that was just the coolest. I haven't had them out because the last time I tried, she just wasn't interested at all. Well that has changed for sure! She could have listened to them all night. I had to promise to sing one at bedtime since we were moving that way. I had to listen to it several times to get part of it down because it went pretty fast. It's called, This Little Bed, and she just loooooved it. It made her want to get in her little bed and go to sleep. She told me...my little bed mama...i go sleep! *crocodile tear*

Those are the moments that make it bearable when she's being a total turkey! We won't mention those in this post and bring down the sweet factor.

What do you do the parents are busy?

2006-05-18T23:05:00.000-06:00

Well play in the dirt of course.....
Put it in your hair..and down your dress......and in your diaper.....
Throw it on the dog..... Eat a little bit of it... mmmmmmmm goood!

What does Mom do? Grabs the camera for a little photo shoot of the grubbygirl of course!

This was the day of 2 showers, but it sure beat yesterday.

And no one can say I don't do a short post.....occasionally.... :)

Some days your the windshield, some days your the fly...

2006-05-17T21:23:00.000-06:00

Some days your kid cries at the drop of the hat making you feel like that fly splattered there on the windshield. So in short my day with AM was not the best one.

We ran errands today. Just a few things I've been putting off.... There are always some of those. I did make it by the veggie stand and pick up the lt to make blt's. I had bought some very lean turkey bacon...I do not recommend it. Next time I'll try the fattier turkey bacon or the leaner pork bacon. I did make a super duper find. It's this Yogurt cheese. It comes in jalepeno and garlic and takes the place of mayo or cream cheese. It made the yummy list and is .....drumroll....0 POINTS!

Top ten reasons to have a meltdown today:

You can't lay on the dog
You can't pull the dog's tail
You want sunglasses that mama mentioned getting
You can't put your sunglasses on...
but you don't want "help" either with putting them on
You don't like lettuce and you're crazy mom put some on your blt sandwich
You have to eat some sandwich b4 you get chips..
Your Papaw wants to show you a bird..
and he wants you to ride the tractor which you usually Loooove ...
You are cutting some teeth and your mom has a limited amount of patience available.

Ok, so she really only had 4 meltdowns today, but we get by with none or 1 so it was a long day with a short nap. And I love her, and I'm so lucky to have her.... Doesn't mean I have to love the tantrums...and you can't make me!!!!

So that was the shit list...

Now here's the sweet list....and funny...

Today once she grabbed my face and planted a big one right on my lips....for no reason at all
She called her Uncle Ricky a "gomer Pyle" all on her own...that is just one of those priceless moments..
Tonight when I sang to her, she said, "that's a cool song" crack me up! (oh it was Amazing Grace...her new favorite)

The sweet list is shorter, but each one of those is worth more.....

Uncle Ricky was giving Mom a hard time cause I had her sit in the car so I didn't have to drag her out, again! He was out there mentioning Papaw and Mamaw was telling him to nix it. Well when he walks away...Murry says, "Gomer Pyle" It just cracks me up that she is learning when to use some of these phrases.

On the cool song thing...I had told her that earlier about a song I was singing. I just needed to sing and she associates it with me wanting her to sleep. Which is oh so very upsetting sometimes. She loves it at bedtime, but not in the car....goober.

Having another calgon night! How did I make it without this tub? Next step...someday far into the future....a hot tub!

The Recipes I've been teasing you with...

2006-05-16T15:12:00.000-06:00

The wraps aren't really a recipe per say, but something I threw together.....

Wraps made on a whim
1 flatout lite bread--found in the deli section...1pt.
2 thin slices of ham---cover the wrap 1 pt.
1/2 chicken breast cut into strips......1.5pts ( i use frozen and heat it for 1 minute)
2 tbsp. lowfat shredded cheese..... 1pt.

Heat for a minute or so till cheese melts.

then add
lots of lettuce
onion
cilantro
1 tbsp of raspberry vinegrette dressing .5 pts.

wrap up, cut in half and dig in! The dressinig and fresh cilantro make it yummy! I see so many possibilities with these little wraps. They are huge for 1 pt. and tasty!

Pineapple Angelfood Cake
(got this tip at my WW meeting)

Buy a 1 step Angelfood cake mix. Follow directions except substitute 1 20 oz can crushed pineapple for the water. (this makes it moist so you don't need anything with it) That's it! So Light and tasty. D ate the whole cake, tho. I had put it in 2 pans thinking it might spill over. It didn't. Mom and I ate the pieces in the small pan..not much. Then D came home and ate most of the other one, and finished it in the morning. That is my goal, though, to find lowfat recipes that we both like so we can change our way of eating.

Cake makes 12 servings. 3 pts. per serving. (depending on the brand of mix you buy, i guess)

Last night I made Enchilada Soup (per Trisha) and veggie fajitas. Yummmmmmy! A very tasty dinner for about 9 points! Tonight is my meeting, so wish me luck! I'm gonna need it after the size of the cake and ice cream I ate on Sunday...not to mention the chips and salsa, and hot links, and shish-ka-bobs..... Oh well next week is a new week, if I didn't lose this week, I will next week.

I'll let you know later.

The long post with 3 parts.....

2006-05-13T22:19:00.000-06:00

The Great Getaway

Mama got to sleep in while Daddy and the lil'un went to do their Mother's Day shopping. Then we headed over to see Uncle Ricky's new truck. Very nice, fancy, and makes me miss my leather from my Explorer. I just loved that smell. Mmmmm... Then the Mam and I headed out for lunch and some shopping. Good fun! We were Mother's Day shopping and had bought Nana some gifts, and who do we see....Nana. So we did a little hiding and a even a bit of running...hee hee...and we got away from her.

How Many Times Did I Say Yummy?

Then Miss Murry fell asleep on the way home, and I finally got some garage sale stuff ready while she napped away. I woke her up at 5 and finished my little job while she drew on the sidewalk with her chalk. Then we went over to Mamaw's to visit and she ended up coming over here for dinner. I made us some of those yummy wraps that I wrote about earlier. We have 4 votes now, so it's official...they are yummy...and only 5 points! Whoohoo! See, see how fun my life is.... I say that like I'm kidding, but truly, I love my life.

I also made a pineapple angelfood cake which also turned out to be very yummy. It was so yummy, that D ate about 8 servings when he got home!

Rocking Chairs, Rocking Babies.....

I need a new rocking chair in a bad way....
Murry and I are gonna rock out into the floor one of these days. The one I have now was given to us by D's uncle. I have rocked it, until parts have been falling off, and now something is just not right...it really tries to dump us out in the floor. It truly makes bedtime an adventure. I love our rocking time, and I'm not ready to give it up. I don't want to be rocking her to bed when she's in middle school or anything, but I feel like kiddos only want to cuddle with their mommies for such a short time. I want to cherish this time...and I want to do it without worrying about being thrown out the window...ha ha! So hopefully soon, we will go get a new rocker...maybe even one with a footstool this time! Whooohooo! Tonight she wanted me to read to her....I love it when she wants me...I'll just admit it! Sometimes she wants Daddy and I try to big about it, but he doesn't even really want to do it...anyway.... So this is my secret weapon...now shush ya'll don't be telling him. She likes her mama to sing to her and rub her hair after we read. She likes to ask me to sing "Sunshine" and "Amazing Grace"....and the "Rocking Chairs" which I totally made up since I just can't remember any other good bedtime songs. I guess I need to pull out the lullabye CD again. I know there were a few on there that I really liked. If you have some suggestions....feel free to share.

It's funny, huh...how in some ways I push her to grow up so fast, and in others I want to keep her little as long as possible. I'm sure when # 2 comes along, it'll rock both our worlds...all of them really. I mean can you ever really be prepared for all that comes with a new baby....I doubt it. I think the best thing to do is hang on, enjoy the ride, and know that you get your identity and some of your life back as years go on. Heck, I may not even want it back when the time comes. I mean, for real, I dig this "mom" gig. :-D

Ok so when she moves to her "big" girl bed....I might quit rocking her at bedtime....maybe....
Or we may just have to get 2 rocking chairs.....hee hee, nah....

Already trying to walk in Mama's shoes.....

Naps Rule and Schedules do not!

2006-05-12T23:17:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to get the girl on a decent schedule like we used to have. Well I had it going, then I thought we would take a nap together today because we were just so darn tired. I'll just lay down here for a few minutes.... Well she was out in about 2 and I was not far behind and it turned into a 2 hour nap. Ahhhh.....

Lisa and Logan came over today to play....and I forgot to take pics! Shame on me. But the kids had fun! They played hard. There was lots of running and silliness. There was a small accident that AM was still talking about at dinner when she showed her Daddy her boo-boo from falling on the carpet. Logan showed me how unbabyproofed the house is...lol.... He is happy lil guy! I made some wraps for lunch that were yummy, if I do say so myself. The kiddos enjoyed some chicken, corn, and grapes. The corn and grapes were new stuff for Logan, but he seemed to really like them. We went over to my mom's yard to play for a while, where both kiddos were having fun, but they started getting red in about 15 minutes...so we headed back in. Sorry I didn't take pics.....so forgetful sometimes.

Miss Murry was a sweetie this evening. She loves to run in circles saying "chickie, chickie" till she falls down laughing so hard that she can barely breathe. It's just good fun to get in the floor with her and laugh till my sides hurt. She spent most of her evening at the pond with Daddy fishing. Rather he fished and she threw rocks in the pond. But when she came over she told me how she touched the fish....his teeth, his eye, and his belly....ewwwwww..... Then she said "I'm hungy, want raviolis" I'm still getting used this talking in sentences, and having her own opinions and such. I love it! WElllll most of the time. So I took her in and washed the fishfunk off of her and got ther girl her raviolis. I think she was a little disappointed that they were cheese and not the beef ones she usually has, but she ate most of them. Then Daddy popped out and ice cream cone. She says, "ices cream cone...mmmmmm......that's gooood" And then I know she ate more than her half of it.

I'm just living out here in my bubble. Working on getting my house in order. Focusing on what is good in life.......I remember now why I love living in the country so much.

Another good day with Mom and Murry...

Fun with all my girls!

2006-05-10T21:44:00.000-06:00

Well it has been a few days.....
First last night was the first MNO in a while......Lots of fun with the gals! All things discussed among the moms stay among the moms, so you won't get the dish from me. Here are a few pics though. Trisha was MIA on a trip to OKC, but hopefully she'll be there next time!

Miss Jami checking out the pics on her camera!

Lisa, who I hope is still my friendafter I post this
one.....I just love the face she's making here.....
we had all been laughing so hard...

And Sheresa who didn't want her pic taken...but I snuck one..hee hee

This was right after I left my WW meeting where I was down 1.8lbs! whoohoo!
Hoping I can make a 2 week in a row loss! I'm starting to get the hang of it better.....what can I say I'm slow. I love my WW leader. She is just such a positive person.

AM and I have been playing Hide and Seek. She does fine when I hide. She comes looking for me and I may have to say, "where is mommy" to get her moving in the right direction. Now when it comes to her hiding...it's hilarious. She hides in the same spot everytime! She says, 'I go hide, in my tent." Then right before you "find" her, she pops and "scares" you. I don't know who taught her the rules of Hide'n'Seek, but it is so cute to watch. We played today for at least 45 minutes and she would have went on forever it seems if I hadn't insisted that it was naptime.

And she ate like a little piggy today....

bowl of cereal..same size as my bowl
slice of banana-nut bread
ham and cheese sandwich
fruit cup
sausage biscuit
banana
raviolis
chips
a few bites of my sandwich
little debbie cookie--a big one!
a few bites of cake

Does this sound normal to you for such a little person? Plus she still drank 2 cups of milk! She kept asking for more, more, more. I finally said...you've had enough baby girl. Maybe it's a growth spurt since she did take an extra long nap today, too!

More pics and info tomorrow....getting very sleepy...

Little ears are listening......always....

2006-05-08T21:52:00.000-06:00

Good day with the grunyun today. She seemed much more like her self. She actually let me get some things done. We did things together off/on without complete meltdowns when Mama had to move along. She's getting on a better shedule which means I can too. whoohooo!

We worked around here this morning, then headed to town (yes we're countryfolk) for a few errands. We came home just in time for Murry's nap. Then I worked on the floors for 1/2 the nap and got in some computer time for the other half. I'm working on my addictions. See how I compromised..with myself...

Tonight I fixed dinner for all the family and I'm digging this living next door to the parents. I know Murry loves seeing Mamaw and Papaw everyday. What a lucky little girl she is.....

I've had to change my language since AM has become a speaker. Instead of calling ppl bad names when they hack me off (cuz yes i do talk to myself) I call them names like dork, goober, and gomer. Well the other night walking back over form my Mom's I called our dog gomer because he was barking at us. Then AM pipes up....Gomer Pyle....LOL..... She's listening even more than I ever think she is. She's at the age where she says the funniest things. We have a couple of books memorized and she has a line out of each page. My favorite is Lovebug....

You're my little Lovebug
My cuddly kangaroo
My funny bunny sweet as honey
All of this is true

You're my Lovey Dovey
My stinker winker bear
My silly, willy
Picadilly
Alligator Stare.....

The red are her line that she reads from a couple of the pages .....just sort of melts my heart....she's growing up so fast. Then she also thinks that if she doesn't read her part, that she can stretch out bedtime. She's so into stalling. I want water. I want to lay on the pillow. Hold me, Mommy. I guess this too will pass, right? I hope anyway. I like bedtime to be fun, and sweet, but not an hour long. My goal is about 30 minutes from the time I walk back to get on the PJ's. I've been making my time most nights, but she isn't happy about it. I know I can't please her all the time, but every once in a while I say screw it and just do whatever it is she is wanting. I think that's okay. Sometimes it's just more Mommytime......which I can handle...:-D

My furry little passenger..

2006-05-07T14:41:00.004-06:00

One day I went out to get something from my car and noticed that Miss AM's carseat cushion had a little hole and some stuffing coming out. Hmmmm. I had just washed it, but I figured I wouljd have noticed that. A critter did cross my mind since I have one who is munching all the shoelaces on the front porch. Being as forgetful as I am or have become, I just moved along...

A few days later I went back to my car (no i haven't left the house much lately) and much to my surprise (since I'm so very forgetful) this little critter has eaten more of the carseat, left little terds everywhere, and destoyed one Princess sippy cup. I guess all that cotton he was chewing on made the little guy thirsty. Here I was trying to leave, headed to town to eat lunch with my mom.....and I now officially have a mouse or worse yet, a rat in my car. Oh joy of all joys! Well rather than acting all girly and making D come home to rid me of my vermin, I decide to drive to the shop and let them take car of it there. So I have to strap AM into the disgusto carseat(I did wipe out the terds) and drive and pray that the little shit doesn't run across her or up my leg....
Holy crap, that was the looongest 15 minute car ride EVER! About half-way I heard the turkey start squeaking and he kept it up the rest of the drive..... Then right as I rounded the corner into town, I see a brown blur streak across the passenger floorboard. Oh My Gosh! Now he was up in the dash area somewhere. Yikes!

I made it though without touching him. I took my dad's truck and went and got 3 traps. Two of the sticky kind and one rat spring trap. I got the rat one just to be on the safe side. Well he at the bologna off that trap and pooped on it! Apparently he wasn't heavy enough to set it off. Well he may have won that one, but the sticky trap got him, and he turned out to be a little brown mouse. I felt sort of bad for him stuck there in all that sticky. Those sticky traps work great, but they aren't the most humane thing. Poor D had to do the dirty deed and he didn't like it at all. I guess the little guy made the move with us and got caught up in the car. Well maybe he shoulda just stayed behind at the rentplace......

Update on AM:
She is still cutting those delightful molars. Which means that my sweet little girl has been taken over by aliens. She is whiny, clingy, and hardheaded. I do so hope it passes. At least the fever has passed. She ran that for about 3 days....which was worrying me.

OCD, ADD, and BVD's

2006-05-06T22:07:00.000-06:00

What does it mean when you can't go to bed until you've checked all the locks twice? And all the remotes on the table have to face the same way...and certain doors open and certain ones shut....
There can't be even 1 dish in the sink. Yes I will actually lay there and think about that dish until it drives me silly and I get up, wash it, and put it away...then I can sleep. The other night when there was a decent mess and I was oh so tired, I thought I'll just go to bed and get it in the morning, but the little voice in my head started talking....oh you hate mornings......it'll just take a minute(yeah right--30 minutes)....you know you won't be able to fall asleep. So I got up and cleaned it allll up.

I was one of those kids who didn't know for sure what color carpet I had in my room. Hmmm maybe I didn't want to know since my mom(who i love dearly) had chosen a pink carpet. She will argue coral, but isn't coral just a shade of pink anyhow? Anyhow my cleanliness was lacking. it got so bad in there that I couldn't stand it and would sleep on the couch for a few nights till I gave it up and cleaned from top to bottom(usually at about 2 am one night).

Somewhere along the way I have improved my cleaning abilities. Not that my house is perfect, but I think my mom feared that I'd be one of those people who just had a path to walk through the house, or just crap everywhere.....

We've moved into the new house, but we're not settled entirely. My garage is still full of stuff. Most of it that I just want to get rid of. Garage sale, here I come! I want to simplify our lives as much as possible. The less stuff I have to move around to dust, the better.

I can come to terms with certain messes...like the one taking over my garage. But some things drive me bonkies!

The OCD should be obvious though I don't truly think I have it....the ADD would be the way my brain is skipping over topics tonight, and that just leaves BVD's....aka the big girl panties....

The news on that is that mine are getting to big..Whooohooo! Time for some new ones. For once I'm not getting too big for my britches, they are getting too big for me.

Too little.......

2006-05-05T20:52:00.000-06:00

Between sleep deprivation and today's funeral, I am one wiped out chickie. Miss Murry decided that it would be fun to get up at 5:30 this morning.....for the day. Little turkey! She has been a complete toot as I fully expected with that wake-up time. She did nap for a couple hours around noon, and is already tucked in for the night as I plan to do to myself as soon as I finish up here.

The funeral was a nice one as far as funerals go. There was a lot of people who came to show their respects and lots of nice things said about my dear cousin. I got to see all the family on that side, but that is definitely not how you want to get together. I do wonder what happens when some mean old fart dies? Do people show up? Do they make up things to say. All of the funerals I've ever been to have been people who had lots of family and friends. And they were good people, so it was easy to say nice things about them. Just makes me wonder....

We went back to my aunt's house for a bit and I looked through some old picture albums. There were 4 of us cousins born in the same year and then a 'step' cousin I guess you'd call her since she was married into the family later on. Anyhow I guess it must have been a fertile year in our family. So there were lots of pics of us kids. The most popular was of us standing out in front of the flowerbeds cheezin out. I say this since there were several of us at different ages doing just that. Murry definitely looks like her mama a lot and somewhat like an older cousin of mine. I see some Daddy in her now and again, but I see a lot of me. There was one particular "look" in a picture that is just so the same. I see it all the time on the face of my little sugar buga. Anyway the pictures were a nice walk down memory lane.

As a little tribute...I'm gonna post all the memories I have of times spent with my dear cousin who will be missed.

Lots of time swimming together...her pool, our pool, the lake.....
A super fun camping trip with all of us cousins together.....think 4th of July....long weekend....and we were still young enough to think that camping in a tent was "fun".
So many nights spent over at grandma's house together that I couldn't possibly count. It was right up Granny's alley. She had us girls there for company and we would keep her up till 1 or 2 am and then she'd just give it up and get up. She'd say well while I'm up, what do you girls want to eat? I always took some cheesedip and chips and Stacy had icing on crackers. That sounds easy enough except that none of it came from a can.....all homemade. Gran would say, "while I'm up a minute I'll eat a bowl of bran cereal and play a game of checkers" or she might sit and read the bible while we played. She never got mad at us for staying up late, which was so sweet of her.
Walking to Sonic while we were at Granny's for a week and needed our fast food fix.
Hours spent on the merry-go-round at the park......just waiting to see who would turn green in the face first....almost always her...hee hee
Playing school and talking about how one day we both would be teachers.....
The time I talked her into "borrowing" my aunts truck and driving up to the 7-11.......when we were 14......these things do have a statute of limitations and it is well up....
Late night talks....
Cooking together......making pizzas......
Just being silly little girls who giggled and laughed....
and towards the end of the week...who fought, cried, and then made nice with each other...

She will be missed.

My thoughts put to paper......or screen...

2006-05-03T23:46:00.000-06:00

Why is it that some people have to be such freaking losers. Why do they have to ruin a person's life. Take it away and leave others behind feeling sad, lost, scared, and unsafe. What gives them the right.....why, why, why? Not fair!!!

I went over on Tues and saw my family. Saw those left behind to pick up the pieces from what this asswipe has done. The funeral is Friday, and I'm going sans Murry. I sure don't think she's ready for funerals. Poor kid can't handle the stampede in Lion King, she'd lose it at a funeral.

So yes I'm angry! And yes my sense of security in the world is rocked. I know I can't worry myself crazy, but it just sucks to not even feel like you can let your guard down in your own home. That's supposed to be your soft place to fall. Where you can hang out and just be yourself. I've always been cautious. I lock doors behind me to the point of driving dh insane. I lock him out of the house when he does yardwork...hee hee. I think it's a good habit. I think he thinks it's a fault. He on the other hand forgets to lock the door...which definitely is a fault. He's tons better than he used to be, but sometime I still get up and find a door unlocked which makes my stomach turn.

So now I'm jumping at every noise and looking over my shoulder...which I hate! New houses have different noises, and I think I was getting used to city noises., sort of. I sure don't miss them, however. I wasn't one of those kids who was scared of the dark, so I sure don't like being a grown-up who is. This is just one of the many reasons I do not watch the news. I don't need the downer or the worry that it brings.

Are we living in scarier times? Or are we just more aware of the meaness in the world because we're so connected technology-wise? Can I just make me a bubble and go live in it....doyathink?

Shock...and general suckage

2006-05-01T23:27:00.000-06:00

I am still very much in shock (disbelief) about my cousin's death. I cry at sad songs. I cry when I'm super happy. I cry when I'm pms'ing. But I still haven't cried over her death. I don't think I want my baby girl to see me breaking down crying either which may be part of it.

We were first told it was thought to be suicide which honestly just pissed me off. I think it's selfish to do that.

So when I got the news that it's homocide, I figured I might break down, but I haven't yet. I've teared up a few times....mostly thinking about her sweet little girl who will be left behind to deal with life without mommy.

My sweet little Murry has been running a temperature for 2 days. So since we got the news, I've done a lot of sitting and holding her which is good for me right now. I think the 2-year molars may be making an appearance. This is about the same as the first molars. Won't eat, low-grade temp, slightly runny nose, drool everywhere, and clingy like baby koala.

Hello inet world

2006-04-28T23:45:00.000-06:00

Well I've been busy with the in-laws. They are visiting for a few days. We shopped till we dropped Thursday and spent Friday recovering.

I'm starting my birthday present campaign early. I figure maybe a couple of good friends or the parents can pick this one up for me.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EFZJRK/qid=1146272172/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-2219565-1376954?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=3777891&s=hpc&v=glance

yeah I don't know how to make the links look cool....Ohhh Triiiisha....lol

Anyway... you all just let me know who is picking up this little gift.

I'm baaaaack....

2006-04-27T00:00:00.000-06:00

from my hiatus. My lack of internet connection resulted in much work getting done. Dan was sad to see it hooked back up since he lost a good helper ;)

Ok of course I have lots to say, but I also have to get up in the morning so I'm off to bed.
I'll do a full post soon!

A picture tells a thousand words.........

2006-04-14T23:18:00.000-06:00

So here is your 3000 words worth tonight........

But you knew I wouldn' t leave it at that. Being as I am semi-wordy. Not as wordy as some I know, but I've got some pretty long posts on here.....

Anyway, we've been packing, running things to the new house, and cleaning all week. Poor Miss Murry has had 1 nap this week and it's showing in this picture. Papaw took her for a ride and he even lets her drive the mower. So she's driving along and starts doing the head-bob and here is what we ended up with. I did transfer her to a bed for the rest of her NAP...I guess you still call it a nap at 7pm???

Got some stuff done today...moving tomorrow...going to bed now!

The long move...

2006-04-12T22:06:00.000-06:00

Thanks for the comments on the last post! I need them right now.

I got nothing, but some good ole complaining and that is just not positive...so I'll leave it off here.
One step at a time..one foot in front of the other...one box at a time...

Bad news...Dan told me they are like 2 weeks getting phone service out to the new house...so I may be out of commision on the 'net for a bit. It sucks, but maybe that's the way to make sure I get thoroughly settled........no.......it just sucks!

And I am putting myself to bed early.

Life in Moderation is sometimes more than I can handle....

2006-04-11T22:19:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I just eat too much...stress too much....love too much.....care too much....
I can't decide if Life is about moderation....or the extremes.....if you have it figured out, please share.....

The house is almost, almost done. We need the final plumbing work done. Some dirt work outside.....and probably 100 tiny little things that will have to get once we're in.

Went to my meeting tonight. I gained .2 Which I'm happy with considering how badly I've been eating due to convience and stress. Life gets tough, eat some cheesedip and chocolate. That'll make it better.....right? Nope. But at least with WW's I'm more aware and the meetings keep it in my mind even if I'm not following my plan exactly. So tomorrow's a new day...a new week of WW's. I'm gonna do the very best I can. That is all I can do.

Been in a sort of melancholy mood. I have lots to do, but much of it will be last minute. Going to make my list tomorrow and start to chip away at it. Can we say procrastination? I think I have to have the pressure.....or something.

Murry was a little sweetie today. She woke up at 8:30 which is super early for her. Luckily I got to bed at a decent time last night. Well we went to lunch with Mamaw and Nana. I could tell she was tired and not quite herself. When we got home I did a few things, including a load of laundry. Because when all else fails...I do laundry...lol. Anyway as soon as I was done...she said hold you. Sure thing sweetie cuz I know the day is coming when you won't want me to hold you.
So she crawls up in my lap. Snuggle down in my armpit...and goes to sleep. Awwwww.......what a sweetheart. This from the same kiddo who as a baby fought every nap and sleepytime. She used to make me dread the naps....so much. It was too much of an effort to get her to sleep muchless dream of putting her down. Anyway this made my day. Just when I'm stressing and life seems to be going all wrong....she can change my day with her sweet little smile, or her adorable sense of humor. I love this kid so much. Too much. That's what's it's all about right?

Ok off to bed......just in case it's another early morning for us....that nap was a looooong one.

Bart???

2006-04-11T14:40:00.000-06:00

You Are Bart Simpson

Very misunderstood, most people just dismiss you as "trouble." Little do they know that you're wise and well accomplished beyond your years.
You will be remembered for: starring in your own TV show and saving the town from a comet
Your life philosophy: "I don't know why I did it, I don't know why I enjoyed it, and I don't know why I'll do it again!"

30% weird...about 75 % stressed...

2006-04-11T14:34:00.000-06:00

You Are 30% Weird

Not enough to scare other people...But sometimes you scare yourself.

Cleaned up, wore out, and ridden on......

2006-04-10T15:58:00.000-06:00

Welll the weekend was spent running to Lowe's (4 times), and cleaning the new house. I took a few pics....they aren't great, but the best I could get at the time.

Here's a pic of what all this running does to a toddler.....

Today was recovery day. I had to go to the store. We were completely out of so much. Important stuff too like diapers, milk, and pop. I say those 3 things are necessities. We did our usual shopping trip. We start at McDonald's and get a nugget happy meal with apples for the Suga Booga and a grilled chicken sandwich for Mom. Mom eats hers quick and Murry nibbles while I shop. She loves to ride the horses at the end of the trip and I let her if she's been good. So far we've only had one trip where I didn't let her since we started this. She's a quick learner like that. Today she was talking about the horse before we even got in the store which is a first. It was so sweet. She said something to the effect of, "ride the horses...if good girl" I said you betcha baby. Last time I let her ride 2 different ones...so she wanted to do that again. Which was fine, but I didn't have any quarters or small bills....so Papaw to the rescue. He gave her a couple ones last night so we spent 1 to ride the horses. Yay Papaw! She had the biggest cheezy grin on her face the whole time except when I'd stick the camera up there. Then I'd get a dirty look. That girl can give some looks. Apparently she gets it from me...according to Mamaw. Here are the best 2 pics, one on each horse......

When we got home...it was almost 4, but she wasn't tired. She played in the yard while I packed in the goods. Then she helped me unload groceries. She is so grown-up sometimes. She would hand me something and say,"Here you go, fweetie." hee hee.... Then she'd come to something and say," too heavy...Mama get it" Melts my heart a little bit.

Happy 50th to the old man...

2006-04-07T22:52:00.000-06:00

My old man that is ;) Tonight he turned 50. Happy Birthday Dad!

It's hard to think of my parents as being around 50. That means I must be real bona fide adult. Not sure if I'm ready for that title.

My Dad......

I've told him this before, but he gave me the best gift a parent can give......roots and wings....
loved (loves) us more than a person probably should....and yes Dad, I do understand that love now that I have a kid of my own...and only now.
worked his butt off too hard so that we would want for nothing....and still made it all our games and played catch in the yard and ball out in the drive
taught us right from wrong....and has a morale that most people just don't have these days....
likes to make the ones he loves happy...see them smile...watch their joy....see their face light up!
makes family a priority and has taught us the value of having a good family and treating each other right
is very giving and kind...even though others may not always see it (sorry if I'm giving away a secret here, Dad)
loves to tease me just to get rise out of me.....I have finally figured this out after YEARS of teasing....
makes us laugh
is wise (most of the time ;) )
is a caring, sweet grandpa
listens to us....
is just all around the best Dad I could have had....and sappy as it is....I'm glad he's mine!

That said....the thought of losing him...or Mom makes my heart break in two. I want them to see Ann-Marie walk down the aisle and have her first baby, their great-grandbaby,.....and (selfishly) be there for me when I'm seeing my baby grow up. So please, please take care of yourselves and try (again) to quit smoking.

Ok on a happier note, here are a few pics from tonight at the restaurant.

Here's AM and her 10$. He actually gave her a 10 $ bill even though she knows no difference from a 1$ bill. hee hee. She does ask for 10 $ though. We think it's because it's the biggest number she knows. It made Uncle Ricky proud. LOL

Dad & Ricky....yeah there's an abundance of beer bottles here...lol. I got a tiny little smirk from Dad...behind the hand there. He's not much on pictures, but I take them anyway. We had an evening of good food, and good conversation.

The pics of everyone else didn't turn out so great so this all you get.

Ahhhh...goood nap

2006-04-07T00:21:00.001-06:00

I attempted to get a few things done today. Got most of the laundry, the bills all paid, and the dishwasher unloaded before lunch. After lunch all my good intentions got sidetracked....plus Miss Murry wasn't having it. Right about naptime, I got this HUGE headache. So I put her down and took some advil and zonked out.....this is like 4 ish.

I woke up to loud sirens going off. Tornado Sirens!!! I ran and grabbed AM and turned on the weather just in time to see that there was a nasty storm about to hit. Well since I had done my usually silencing of the phones while I nap, Dan was worried of course. He came in the door about 5 minutes after we woke up and right when the nasty part of the storm hit. We got things ready just in case the tornadoes came with it.

Luckily they didn't and the storm passed rather quickly. Then we headed out to the house. We needed to get things ready for the carpet layer coming on Saturday and the countertop guy coming tomorrow. This is all happening so fast now. We're almost there. My light fixtures are in and we have light. Oh and those track lights I've been bitching about so much....i love them. They look great!!! I didn't think we'd ever find some that are pretty and affordable for us, but we did!

Looks like I'll be out there this weekend, too. Cleaning outside windows, touchup paint, final cleanup on tubs and showers.......and whatever else needs to be done. We're supposed to move next weekend!! Wowsa!! It's been a long time coming. I have so much to do........it all feels overwhelming right now...maybe I'll go pack a box to make me feel better....or maybe not ;)

A nice day, a tired Mommy

2006-04-05T21:46:00.000-06:00

Miss Ann-Marie and I went over to Lisa's to for a playdate today. She made the best WW pizza. I need more recipes like that to make for my family. I get stuck in a rut of the same old things. She also made some really yummy 2 pt. brownies. They were so good I had to have 2. Mmmmm. You can't beat a day of someone else cooking good food for you and actual adult conversation. Plus it was so pretty and the kids had a good time together. Here are a few pics from today......
Logan trucking across the yard....he was all over that yard.
Two cutie pies on two kiddie carts! Am's waving and snarling up that nose. Logan's like..."what a goob" hee hee
Look at those red cheeks. They were both tired here. In "girl fashion" she stole the good seat, but he didn't seem to mind. He sat sweetly in front of her and leaned on her.

Mmmmm....good cold raspberry tea....our mom's rule!!!

My WW meeting update!!!

2006-04-05T17:23:00.000-06:00

I lost 3.2 lbs!!!! Whooohooo. That is one of my best losses. Now i'm going to try my very best to stay on track and have a loss(any loss) this week. So far good, but it's only day 1. I can do this...I can do this....

Jami went with me to the meeting and joined. It'll be nice to have a friendly and familiar face at meetings, if she decides to keep coming to the Bixby one. I hope so! Afterwards we went to buy 1 more ceiling fan and take it out to the house. The electricians are almost done and the place is starting to resemble a home. Not long now. I'm sooooooo ready!!!

I have more for tonight, but I'm running out of time....as in I have a kid who hasn't napped at all...and she's done with the video I put in to get this done. :D

Motherhood.....a day in the park...

2006-04-04T15:34:00.000-06:00

Ok so maybe it's not always a day in the park. Like right now. I've been trying to get the kid to take a nap for 45 minutes and she's not having it. Except, wait, it is quiet right now. Ahhh the silence.....I have to wake her up in 45 more minutes to go to my WW meeting. My peek at the scale says I'll have good news to report!!! *fingers crossed* I've been pretty good this week, so it's no huge surprise.

Onto that park business....Miss Murry and I went to the park today. As in walked about 8 blocks. So it was the long, slow toddler walk. It was supposed to wear her out and make naptime easier. Guess not. Anyway she walked all the way there. Well here are the pics of my favorite lil gal:

I had packed us a lunch--sandwiches, chips, and an orange. (lowfat chips) ;) --picture above--

We went on the merry-go-round together....what fun! It's so nice to act like a kid again, sometimes.

She climbed"up the stairs" as she says and played with the wheel.

She sat on and rocked on the zebra thing (horse per Murry) forever. Worked for me. Mom took a break.

The best part of our little trip to the park isn't in a pic. This park has a flat swing which actually doesn't cut my ass half in two. So we swang in that together. She had both hands around my neck and I was laying down holding onto the chains. She was having the best time, and I held on till I thought my hands might fall off. She kept saying, "I like it, Mama" and "fun Mama" I would have gone longer, but I swear my arm muscles were giving out. It was good mommy moment. One I want to remember when I'm having a rough day with her.

On the way home, she fell and skinned her knees. So I ended up carrying her about 6 blocks in my already tired arms. It was worth every second. She is such a sweetheart. She was talking about the swing and the slide and all the fun she had at the park. I told her how proud I was that she listened to mommy and that we would go back soon. (read as--no fit when we left) I even had the camera ready. I was gonna take a picture of the crying face, but she was a big girl about it. We came down the last few blocks with her riding on my shoulders. I could tell she didn't want it to end. It was a little hard getting her into the house. It makes me happy that the best times are times we spend playing together.

Short and to the point...for once

2006-04-03T23:12:00.000-06:00

Don't expect it to happen again ;) Just a few Murry notes for the evening.......

"Go Boys!" This is what she says to the basketball players on TV.
"mice" this means mine.....and no matter how many times we correct her, it still Mice in her head.
poop in your pants and then pee in the potty.....pooping on the potty is too much work...you have to sit still more than 5 seconds for 1 thing.

We had a nice day of running around. We got a few errands done that needed to be done and a few we did to avoid doing other chores at home. Took a nice little walk with B. She pooped in the neighbor's yard.....here I am with a kid, a dog, and no pooper scooper. Woopsie!

Misty's current mood: melancholy, indecisive, and procrastinatory as usual.

The Sunday Night Post....

2006-04-02T21:57:00.000-06:00

The complete unbridled joy of a child. This pic was taken Friday night of Miss AM swinging in a hammock at the Bass Pro Shop. She loved it so much she had to share her displeasure of being removed from it with the whole store. It only lasted about 30 seconds. But for those 30 seconds all eyes were on us. Just another joy of toddlerhood!

I have been out at the new house most of the day. We didn't accomplish much. Mostly just getting new locks put on the doors. Dan ran out of paint, so that didn't get done. I did make another decision about the paint. All once color....the 2 colors were just too much with all the other colors of the brick, roof, windows. Decisions, decisions.

Yesterday I sat at home all day as you can tell from the last few posts. Then Miss Jami got on to see what I was up to. Well we ended up going to Lowe's to pick out doorknobs and locks. Then Jami and I went on to the Elephant Bar for dinner. We had some nice girltalk and she came back here to wait out the storm. Her and Dan are both from Iowa, from towns pretty close together. Get a couple Iowans together......*rolling eyes* ;) Anyway we did have a nice visit and then after she left I set down to get on the computer for a bit and that is when I read about time change....omg...I lost an hour!! I hate that. It sneaks up on you so fast!

Today I think Dan wanted me out there mostly for moral support. I'm not much help at installing locks. All I did was clean up a couple windows and some hinges that had gotten paint on them. Oh and I did read instructions when Mr. Lock Installerman got stuck. What is it with men and instructions?? Right now I should be sitting down to pay bills, but I'm tired and mostly I just want a bath...or a shower. Can we say "learn how to pay bills online??" I very much need to figure that out. After we move. So after I get done on the computer, I imagine that's where I'm headed. Oh after I unload the dishwasher and do 1 more load of laundry......of course............

What is wrong with this picture?

2006-04-01T16:50:00.001-06:00

The answer is everything and nothing! This is just how it looks when she plays. She loves books and I think she looked through each one today. Poor Elmo looks like he's fallen and can't get up!

Ahhhh, there now Mommy feels better. She handed me each one to put away on the shelf. She also picked up all those toys. This is a little thing we do.....oh 4 or 5 times a day! And so it goes in the life of a toddler. Can you feel my procrastination today? I got a shower, but I've given up on productivity at all.

On this day....

2006-04-01T13:57:00.000-06:00

every month I have absolutely no get-up and go...no ambition whatsoever. I sit at home in my pj's or sweats and wish I was doing something cooler. Warning: bitchy womantalk. So the dreaded TOM is here. Today is day 2...hell day for TOM. cramps, bloating, sleepiness......general lethargy. I have one day the day b4 TOM arrives where my mooooood sucks and then the day after my body feels all lethargic and just uck!

So far today, I've gotten up and made breakfast.....and then lunch. In between I laid on the couch. Whoohoo big day! I keep getting up with intentions to turn the day around, but it isn't happening. The couch keeps calling my name....... Right now...there it is looking at me, just waiting on me. I'm going to resist it's charms and wiles, though. I'm going to go play with the kid. She's been so sweet this morning and she's played so well. She keeps bringing toys to the couch to play with me. :) Sweet girl. Ok enough bitching...this will pass...and soon.

Gratitiude post....cuz you know I have to have something positive!

At least I have TOM which allows me to have kids and for that I am deeply grateful.
I'm grateful to be a woman. period.
I'm grateful to have such a sweet, funny, little girl.

Ok that's 3 and it's all I have for now. I'm smiling now at least. Off to take more advil and a hot shower!!! After I stop by and play with sweet, funny, girl. ;)

The pictures I promised.

2006-03-31T16:32:00.000-06:00

Ann-Marie and Miss Tally holding hands out in the yard.......
Look how fast Miss Murry is healing. This is Wednesday at the playgroup. Yes she wore the same clothes. They were miraculously not dirty or stained....
Connor smiling and getting ready to head down the slide.

The full report

2006-03-30T23:32:00.000-06:00

I'll start with Tuesday. Trisha and Miss Tally came over and we went out for lunch and a little shopping. The girls played good together for the most part. Sharing is a work in progress. Trisha got a few pics of them holding hands which is how their friendship started. Tuesday was a good day.

Then Tuesday night I went to my WW meeting to find out that I had gained 1lb. Yuck! I knew I hadn't been being good. So I'm back on track this week and so far hanging in there. I will have good numbers to report next week.

Then Wednesday we hit a playdate with the playgroup. I snapped just a couple pics there. The one of Ann-Marie is very close up and it would be a great one if my camera wasn't so fuzzy when I zoom. I'd like to get one that zooms better someday. Notice how the boo-boo is healing up nicely! I always mean to take more pics, but then Murry needs something and I'm easily side-tracked. Mommy-brain!!!

After we left the playdate we hit Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. Wednesday was a great day. She was being such a little sweetie, and we had fun together. After a quick nap, I took her out to Mamaw'shouse to hang out while I helped Dan clean up windows in the house. That is when the $$$ incident happened.

Today on the other hand has been a crapper of a day. The potty training had been going relatively well, but today was not good. Two "accidents" withing 15 minutes or so. I think she gets mad at me for getting busy and just does it. Which thoroughly makes me mad. I ended up giving Mommy a time-out for 5 minutes in the bedroom so that I didn't lose my temper. The last accident she looked right at me and peed her pants...and the floor. Oh child! How I wanted to throttle you. Tomorrow will be better...tomorrow will be better...tomorrow will be better!

Post Script....you knew I had one more in me...right? Well tonight her little funny was yelling for Mommy or Daddy since she couldn't fall asleep. Dan went in the first time and told her it was time to go to sleep. She said, "Oh, yeah...." Like that's what I'm in here for. The best part he said was the way she said it. In this really deep voice like and like "oohhh yeeeah!" Think Barry White in that one commercial. He came out of ther cracking up. She knows how to make us laugh, that's for sure.

Tangent. Tonight's tangent is on TV. I can't watch hardly anything anymore. You wanna know what my kiddo learned to say tonight?? Assgrabber. *raised eyebrow* You wanna know what shows I'm subjecting her to?? Everybody Loves Raymond! I turned CSI off....too gory...to watch the invention show....saw maybe 1/2 of it in all the craziness of playtime and pottytime. Then at 9, I thought Raymond was a decent choice. What is the world coming to???
Yeah I think we may have to start turning the TV off more.......

It is late and Blogger is being a pain so I'll post the pics tomorrow......

I want money...gimme lots and lots of money!

2006-03-29T23:56:00.000-06:00

Quick Murryism for tonight...

As we were leaving Mamaw and Papaw's house tonight, I picked up my bag and AM says, "I want 10 dollars." Where she got this?....I cannot figure. Well I told her Papaw was the one to ask for the $$$. So she asks Papaw, and he gives her 2$. She proceeds to smell it, rub it all over her face, and look at every detail of it. Then she keeps saying, "I have 10$" and laughing her little butt off like she's told the best joke EVER. That's a new thing she's been doing. She acts like she's a little stand-up commedian. It cracks us all up! That's my girl! Papaw loved her jokes so much that he gave her another $. See how she's working it here? I heard this song about women today and how they learn to start teasing and pleasing when they're babies.....hmmmm some truth to it??? I think so.

The full report comes tomorrow as I am tired tonight.

We got Murry the coolest new toy......

2006-03-27T23:36:00.000-06:00

First here is the face update...

It's looking better everyday. Amazing how fast they heal at this age. And I'm soooo glad!

Miss Murry and I walked up to the Tag Agency today and if you've ever walked with a toddler.....you know that slow doesn't even begin to describe it. She runs around the house all day and looks like she's moving fast, but apparently not too fast. It was fun, though. She enjoyed it way more than a stroller ride. We had a conversation...lol. I can't believe how grown up my lil girl is!

Then onto this new toy.....It was very expensive$$$$$ and it's all the rage for the toddlers.........

A box of 10 soaps........$5.47
Wal-Mart Bag..............Free with soap
hours of good fun........Priceless :)
My camera ran out of room for pics, but let me tell you, she had the best time. First her and her Daddy made towers out of the soap boxes. Then I used the sack to make her a skirt which she thought was just too cool. Then she took the soap boxes and did the funniest things with them

First she put each box in a tile on the floor.....in that last pic you can see where she started it, but that's when I ran out of room on my camera..
Then she made a line of them...all 10 of them.... down the hall.
Last she brought them all back in to the tile and stood them on end.

It was really cute to watch. She had a method to her madness, and the noisy "skirt" just seemed to add to her fun!!!

Aren't kids grand???

I'll just stop there on a positive note and not get into the messiness of how our evening ended.

I had a good weekend...Thank you for asking!

2006-03-26T23:22:00.000-06:00

Murry is recovering well...it's turned into big old scabs and now she wants to pick at it. So they can't hurt too bad if she's picking at them. She's making me sound like my mom...or most any mom now...."quit picking at your face!" Dan also says that one to me.......ahhh adult acne.....but luckily it's not as bad as it used to be. Thanks to Mary Kay skincare! If you need a Mary Kay consultant...let me know. I have a great one!

Over the weekend we went to the house to check out the tile which is done now. My dh and my dad did it and they did a beautiful job if I do say so myself. Now this week is clean up and getting ready for final stages of electrical, mechanical, and plumbing. We're in limbo with countertops...till Thursday. And the carpet should be in this week to be picked up. Our deadline for our interest rate is April 14th so we're in a rush now. Wish us luck, cause we're gonna need it!

I ended up over at Mom's house and staying for dinner. She made a yummy, but fattening dinner. MMmmmm! Then we headed home for what I thought would be a regular Saturday night of hanging at home. I ended up going out with a couple of my girlfriends for some good conversation and fun ;) Thanks girls! I had a great time!

Today was a stay-at-home and clean up the house sort of day. Got it cleaned up for the most part and many loads of laundry done. I won't bore you with details of housecleaning and laundry.

This week looks wide open. I hope it stays that way and I get to make at least a few plans that do not involve the house business.

Murry's not a baby anymore. She's really growing up and seeming more and more like a little person everyday. We can have give and take conversations--at times. She really surprises me at how fast she's learning and catching onto things. Saturday we had an accident-free potty day. Today 1 accident. She's been waking up dry in the morning. As much as I wasn't ready for this and still am not sure that I am....I have to follow her lead. She's interested and she's doing her best.

A few things that melt my heart......

When she says,"Thank you, Mama" at the right time and without me asking her to say it.
When she says "Bless you" to about anyone who sneezes.
Her diaperless little bum.....big girl panties for my baby *sniff, sniff*
The way she does her arms when she runs.....that one also makes me laugh!
When she comes up to me and says, "Hold you, please?"

As you can tell, I'm really working on her manners. I think it's the teacher in me. Manners are almost a lost cause in the elementary school today. I had one student who had the best manners EVER. I was so impressed with her. It was obvious she had been raised that way. As the year went on, I learned she had been home-schooled. I rocked the boat by putting her up for a national award in the 2nd month of school since she was new to the public school system. The category respect(manners were a requirement) and this kid deserved it. She didn't do it because she wanted an award, she did it because it's the right way to be. So I got jazzed a little for it....big deal. I never was one to follow the rules--especially unwritten rules that come from peer pressure like that. Needless to say, I required manners from my students so I wouldn't consider not requiring it of my own children.

Big Boo-Boo

2006-03-24T23:49:00.000-06:00

As you can see from the pic, Miss Murry took a spill. She was walking out of the store, and was blinded by the bright sun. She says, "ohhh bright!" She stepped right off the curb and hit the concrete face first. :( I felt so awful. It's her first boo-boo with blood and scratches. We've had lots of bruises, but no blood. I thought Nana had ahold of her hand and Nana thought I had her hand.......

I cleaned her up and she'll be okay, but it's just hard to see your little one get hurt especially when I could have easily prevented it. It actually looks worse than in this picture as it has had time to bruise more and swell.

Ok onto to a more positive note. I got a lot accomplished today. We had a run, run, run day.

oil change--we dashed over to Rib Crib for some lunch while this was being done
paid for carpet and picked a nice cushy pad for the Suga Booga to "fall" on--I figure I spend enough time in the floor and will need it :-D
picked out and bought appliances
returned movie
picked up a fresh smelling B from the groomer

That pretty much sums up the day till about 4 when we came home and took a nap together. She really likes napping with me and I was tired from the lack of sleep this week. Plus there is the whole guilt factor for letting her fall on her face. She's been up every night for anywhere form 1-2 hours. Always at 1:30 right about the time I'm either laying down or drifting off.

A few quick Murry-isms from the past few days:

My favorite one: We were in the bathroom doing our business and she looked to see what I had done and said, "yay mommy" *clapping* "pee-pee in the potty" Now who else is gonna cheer for me when I go pee??? Sweet girl! Oh and she did the same for her Dad later on. :)
I can't remember where she picked this one up...from me I'm guessing...but when we come to a stop-light or sign...she says, "Go, Mama, go, go."It's more like she's cheering you on than giving orders. It's the sweetest.
I'm making a mole out of her like my mom did me....I keep it pretty dark in the house...and when you turn on a light or go into the sun...as in the whole falling down incident...she blinks her eyes and says, "too, bright"
She had malt-o-meal tonight and listening to her try to say malt-o-meal was a hoot!
Right now she's in an "I want my mommy at bedtime phase" and I love it! Shhhh don't tell Dan. --She does want him a lot of the time, but she knows who puts in the nightime hours with her when she's sick.....;)

That's about it. On the potty front we had a good day. She only used 1 diaper today. She held it the whole time we were running errands and there was only 1 accident all day and it was a poop. Progress! :) We still have a long ways to go, but it's looking promising that she can be trained by age 2.

The house is getting so close....then my life can return to some form of normal.....if there is such a thing...lol!

Thanks to those who take the time to read....I know some days are just boring stuff, but isn't that how life goes.....anyway if read, drop me a line. :)

Another Pic Post....my painters.....

2006-03-24T00:43:00.000-06:00

Here is dh painting the vault in the living room. Doesn't that look nice and safe?

And here is my muralist Dad....he's so proud of his work...can' t you tell???

That's it...my mind' s pretty blank tonight. Just cruising through some old pictures and some not so old ones.

Drama Queens, Lost $$, and the book that didn't make it home...

2006-03-23T17:30:00.000-06:00

Big Day. We got up, ate breakfast, took a shower, and were ready to leave the house in just about 2 hours. Why is it that I can't hardly get out of the house in under 2 hours when I used to be able to make it out in 30 minutes if I needed to. I can make it an hour and a half if I shower the night before, but I feel better if I shower the day of........

Well the answer is easy....add 1 child to the mix...1 child with a flair for drama.......

She had 3 meltdowns today in the 1st hour we were up...

When I went back to get her some socks....sounds stupid I know, but I think she thought I was ging back to bed...eyeroll
When I couldn't make her 2nd bowl of oatmeal fast enough.
When she only got 1 piece of candy for peeing in the potty....my thought was a little pee...a little candy....but to a toddler she got gypped since i usually give her two m&m's. So I guess I need to give the same number each time. There was like 5 drops of pee in the potty........but she tried.

Ok so this has all happened while we're getting ready for the day...and by now Mommy is at her wit's end and the day has just begun.

It got much better thank goodness. We went to the bank to set in our interest rate on the house, and she was good for the whole 45 minutes of Mama and Daddy signing papers. Then we grabbed lunch and took it to the shop to see Mamaw and Papaw. She had fun there like she always does. Then we went to library to grab some tax forms and a book that I had on hold. A nice little day of running errands.

Yes I said tax forms. Every year we say we won't wait till the last minute and every year, we do. And we get a REFUND! Most people can't wait to do their taxes if they are getting a refund. It's just one of those things.....

Oh and I've had the check made out for my tag since the 3rd of the month....and I'll probably wait till the last day of March. I think I just have a procrastination gene...that I definitely got form my father because we all know Mom does everything early or at least on time.

I was telling Dad just today that I "misplaced" a hundred $$ bill. Most people hang on to those. He said, "You're a dork, like me." Thanks Dad and right back at ya! ;) And the good news is I found it. It was only misplaced--never lost.

I read a book called The Time Traveler's Wife which I thought was great. So I went to pick up another book by the same author....The Three Incestuous Sisters *raised eyebrow* Well I didn't even bring it home. Turns out it's a picture book and it sucks. I sat in the library and thumbed through it while Murry read her books on the beanbag. It was beyond Stupid. To sum up...read the Time Traveler's Wife, if you haven't and stay as far away from the Sisters as possible. I picked up Outlander.....anyone ever read that???

All I have for now....my mind may go on another tangent this evening, and you know I'll share.

Gratitude Post

2006-03-22T17:45:00.000-06:00

OK so my attitude sucks in that last post......
Bad attitude comes from lack of gratitude for the things that are going right in life. So here goes.

Three things I am grateful for today:

i have a beautiful healthy daughter who loves me and i love her
i have a wonderful husband who is working his ass off to get us into a nice house
i am healthy and i have lost over 10 lbs since the first of the year.......

Ok, now I feel a little better.

Note to self...get up off of ass and do something.

One long whiny post with a few sprinkles of cheer...

2006-03-22T16:42:00.000-06:00

Another day of this cold weather that just sucks! I was so ready for nice warm weather and parks and general fun.......where is spring??? Miss Murry has bad allergies or a mild cold...not sure which yet. Nasty runny nose, but it's clear and the bad cough that kept us up for a good part of the night. So today was another hanging on the couch watching videos kind of day. We watched both Santa Claus movies today. We did stop to have a tea party and a tickle fight. She loves to take my hair and tickle my nose with it. Here's a schedule run down...to show you just how boring the day has been so far....

10:00 wake up call from Miss Murry came about 9:45 actually, but I had to drag myself out after the long night.
10:01--diaper change --no patience for potty time today.....won't even go there.....
10:05--breakfast--cereal and milk
10:20 --feed the dogs
10:25--clean up breakfast mess
10:30--put on Santa Claus...fall onto couch and snooze till 11
11:00 --dh calls
11:15--call over--back to snooozing..in and out of consciousness while kid plays, watches video and hugs and kisses on me...
12:00 give up the snoozing..have a tea party with darling daughter...
12:30 Put on another Santa Claus movie--color a picture with dd
1:00--change diaper and daughter gets sassy about it
1:05--lands in kiddie jail for a few minutes
1:06--B throws up in the floor so I get to clean that up while I'm supposed to be cooling off from my kid's sucky attitude.....
1:08--after negotiating with Miss AM and getting my apology she is bailed out...
1:15--Mommy is laying on the couch again...have I mentioned this weather sucks??? We do play with the dolls and have a little tickle fight here.
around 2:00 get up and make lunch ....pizza and corn for the kid...chicken wraps for mom....
2:30--lunch over...clean up kitchen while kiddo colors some monkeys.....
3:00--sit down and color with my darling
3:30--turn movie back on and start up computer to see if the outside world still exists
3:33--I have dial-up....outside world does exist....and there is supposed to more sucky weather headed our way. whoohooo :rolleyes:
4:00--put Miss AM down for a nap
5:21 here I sit.......

I could get things done while the kids sleeps if she could sleep while I get things done. You see what I'm saying. She wakes up at a mousefart......always has. I gave up being very productive during naptime when she was about 6 or 8 mos old. Somewhere in there.

Our next house has insulation in the interior walls..... :) ....a mom can dream, right???

It's not that I want to do tons while she sleeps, but a load of laundry, dishes, that sort of thing.

But no I'm trapped here in this little place with a kid who has sleep issues and I have to be quiet as a mouse.....nighttime is a different story. She sleeps right through everything at night, unless she's sick. By the time nighttime does roll around, I'm usually so tired all I want to do is plop into my chair and veg out for a couple hours before hitting the hay myself.

I could really use a Diet Pepsi right about now....any takers on bringing me one.???....lol

Tonight would be a calgon night....if I had a jacuzzi already?

2006-03-21T22:33:00.000-06:00

Where to begin....the day was long and at times very hairy....

I should have posted yesterday....it was a nice day! Mostly because I found all my lights for the house--even the stinkin track lighting which has been a pain in my ass! And I found appliances online, now all I have to do is compare to a few places and then I may actually have the makins for a house!

Potty training--we'll start there....I keep thinking I'll scrap it completely until after we move, but Murry is interested and I don't wanna pee on her parade. So here was today's potty schedule.

10:30 wake up and pee (a little) in the potty
11:30 pee in the potty--again--yay!!!
12:45--big pee in the potty! whoohoo
1:30 ish another small pee--Mom's just makin sure we don't have an accident
1:40 pee in the floor....now this made Mama mad since she had just taken me to the potty...
3:00 another big pee in the potty--whoohoo! and I even told mom about this one!
3:30 another huge pee in the floor in the last pair of clean panties....and the diaper is back on--almost nap time anyway ;)
wake up and pee at 5
mom is "all done" she's had it with potty fun today--plus she's on her way to her meeting...
Score: Potty chair--5 Floor--2

Here's my problem--I think the kid is using the pee-pee to get back at me. Both times she had accidents, it was because I was on the phone.......and the last one I had just asked her if she needed to go pee-pee. She said,"no pee-pee in the floor" then proceeded to go in the kitchen and pee in the floor. Oh grrrrrr child! I think she senses my seething anger when I think it's done on purpose and I have to get that under control. Why oh why do kids like to make parents mad? Lately she's been a toot. I'm guessing it's the whole "terrible two" stage moved in. The whole day isn't bad. There are sweet and good moments, but even during a good moment, it seems like she has to ruin it by being, well a toot.

Today at a glance ( well maybe a more of a stare)

we watched Santa Claus the movie...and because she was being so clingy and needy, I sat and held her for the last 20 minutes of the movie. I may have had a few tears...(yes I'm totally sappy) Anyway she saw them and said, "Slobber Mama, Gross, Stop it!" LMAO that is so something I would say to her........funny how I hear myself repeated a lot.
she was smothering me in kisses, sweet--right? Well yeah...very until she bonked my head...she's been doing weird stuff like that...just to see how I react sometimes, I guess.
I dropped my whole bag of makeup in the shitter when I was getting ready to go to my meeting.....that kinda sums up about 90% of my day anyhow, huh? lol So I had to wash it all in hot, soapy water and dry them before I could finish my makeup.
I gained .2 lbs for the week, which isn't bad considering how bad I was over the weekend.
Nana did stop by unexpectedly to watch Murry before I went to my meeting.....then she took us to Chili's for dinner. Yummy and thanks so much Nana!

At my meeting....my eighth grade english teacher has joined WW. She was one of my more memorable teachers from junior high. She made my day! She recognized me and said that she wouldn't forget me because I'm still just as pretty as I was back then. Awww now that is just so sweet. I started to give her a look, but decided just to accept the compliment with some grace. Isn't great how God puts people in your path to lift you up when your feeling down?

A Picture Post

2006-03-16T11:08:00.000-06:00

Ann-Marie playing with her new Jack in the Box.
My green wall color....this picture doesn't show the brightness of it, but you get the general idea.
Murry playing with her new princess tea party kit from Nana. She loves it!Last, but not least a lovely mural done on my living room wall by my father. Notice the "male"ness of the deer. He was so proud.....i think he'll love being published here on the web. Now you can show it to everyone Dad. *cheezy grin* LOL

all the pretty brown stuff......

2006-03-15T17:37:00.000-06:00

What is brown and round…….

And rather smelly….uh huh…..you guessed it. We have more progress. After that potty talk we had last night, we had poo-poo in the potty this morning. It was so shocking to me that when she got up, I was kinda like, “huh, what’s that?” Well Baylee knew what it was and she was willing to snatch it up if I didn’t. Ewww Bayle and Yay Murry! I’m not pushing too hard, just encouraging her interest and bribing her with candy. Kids’ll do anything for candy, right?

I started this post last night and I didn’t get done--but I’ll continue on from here.

She is really doing good on the potty training…..I’m so proud and I hope to have her completely trained by age 2 if not sooner.

Today she went pee first thing in the potty and I put her in some panties. Then about an hour later I was ignoring her because she just jabbers on and on sometimes. When it finally came through my head, she’s yelling pee-pee! I thought, oh no she’s peed her panties. A quick check showed me that she hadn’t yet so we ran down the hall. I got her sat down and she went---a lot! Well somewhere in our little run she did leak some out, but we’re blaming this one on Mom! I need to listen to her, but sometimes I feel like if I listen and respond to everything she says, I may go brain dead or insane……………

For now we’re just potty training at home, but pretty soon I’m going to have to try the public thing…..not too soon, though! The big potty scares the bejeezus out of her.

So we went to the park today and she had a blast. Didn’t want to leave. I can tell this year is going to be tougher watching her, but she’ll enjoy it more. We took our lunch there and she ate, but as soon as she was done, she climbed up on the equipment all by herself and was ready to head down the slide before I knew what was going on. Scared me a little, actually. She was all over the place…..slides, swing, sandbox……Mommy likes the sandbox. It gives me a minute to stop and chat. So does the swing. I’m so glad the weather is turning nice. We really have missed our park playdates. I think the park is the secret to an awesome nap. Shhhh...don't tell Murry!

She was not ready to leave, but she didn’t throw a fit. I could tell she really wanted to and I think we got her home and down for a nap just in time! Whew!

I’ve been feeling a little stressed lately and I think I needed a day at the park, myself. I don’t like having to run around and pick out all this stuff for the house. I think on the last house, I was just so involved having drawn up the plans and all. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and I was happy with all of my choices. This time has been more challenging. That and the prices of things have really gone up just in the 4 years since we built the other one and I hate spending too much money on things. Grrrrrr……

I always go out on a limb on paint colors. I like my life to be colorful. The outside got painted once, but the color was not good so that is why there will be no outside pics until the “new” color is on. They were able to darken up the paint we already had to make it look better. Onto the inside…..so I ended up with a light brown for the main part and a light sage green for my bedroom and the nursery. Ann-Marie’s room is a beautiful Mocha color. I am most excited about doing her room! She’s even getting her own Mocha colored carpet. Our carpet is a med brown color. My life is going to be full of brown it seems. I picked up countertop samples, but I’m having a little trouble picking that one. Tomorrow is light fixtures. Wish me luck--I’m gonna need it!

Off and running..

2006-03-13T23:17:00.000-06:00

That's the name of the game this week. Murry and I were off and running all day and apparently tomorrow is more of the same. We hit the carpet stores today--2 of them. I got the tile ordered and I think I may have finally settled on a carpet--exciting stuff! She was a good little shopper and I hope it holds out for tomorrow. Tomorrow is countertops and ordering carpet. Finally!

So we were in the carpet store and this balding fella with a mustache is walking around looking at carpet samples minding his own business. My darling daughter is pointing at him and saying something. I hear her, but I'm trying to move along and quickly. The saleslady finally asks....is she saying "Dr. Phil". And she was, of course. Yes my 19 mos old daughter knows who Dr. Phil is and now she's pointing at complete strangers yelling it! I don't know which part of that is worse.......... Luckily the guy wasn't paying attention or if he was he had the courtesy not to let on and make the situation sticky. I know she's going to "Santa Clause" someone soon. A few guys on TV have already gotten it.

Big news on the potty front.....3 of 4 pee pee's went in the potty today! Whoohooo! The candy bribing is working out. She wants to pee on the potty now! That's the good news. We had never really discussed poo poo too much. So needless to say, we had to discuss how Tinkerbell doesn't like it when you poo poo on her, and Mom got her first experience at cleaning the poo out of the panties......not so much fun!

Oh and today was, I love Mommy day--my favorite day. She wanted me to hold her a lot and wanted to hang out with Mom a lot. Lately she's been a Daddy's girl, but not today.

They were hanging out by the window and Dan was trying to put it down since it was cold and something popped loudly. Ann-Marie says "DanIEL" in her best mommy voice.....LMAO! That's my girl!!!!! Dan said, "Well if she isn't just you all over" Awwwww.

Today was a good day in Murryland. She was a good kid with not too much fuss or whine.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...........

2006-03-12T01:11:00.000-06:00

How is it that I miss my girl before I even drop her off??? I mean I want a little break and I have a great time once I'm out, but I get this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach when I know it's time to leave her.....and I'm leaving her with Mamaw, so I know she's gonna be fine and she's gonna have a blast! Oh the insanity of motherhood.........

It is nice to have a few hours out where all I have to worry about is me......sort of. I don't have to wonder how much pee-pee is in the diaper, or if she might be getting hungry, thirsty, or sleepy. I don't have to entertain anyone, dress them, or keep their behavior in line. (wellllll maybe I have to watch myself a little ;) ) I don't have to read anybody any stories, or watch Monsters for billionth time. I don't have any little people to pick up or any toys laying in the floor around the house for that matter for those few hours. I don't have to wake up to someone yelling "mommy" and needing my attention immediately. And you know what? When I don't have all that to think about, I really, really miss it. I feel at a loss being able to hop in the car without buckling my girl in behind me. (I do enjoy listening to some loud music, however.) And after just a few hours, I'm ready to go get my baby girl.

She went to stay at Mamaw's for the night last night, and I enjoyed my time away from her, but I was very anxious to see her. I woke up the next day....and I thought about all those things that I always think I want to get done when she's not around to keep me distracted...and you know what? I said pooey on it, I can't wait that long to see her. So I got around and I did make a few quick stops along the way, but I was back before 24 hours was up. She was without her mommy from 6pm Fri. to 2 pm Sat. Whew! I think we've only been apart for 24 whole hours one time. Mamaw did keep watching her while I went to check out the new paint and try out yet more carpet samples. They took a nap together....so sweet. Thanks Mamaw for watching my little angel girl. I know she had a great time with you!

Tonight when bedtime rolled around, there was no way I was giving up my snuggle time. Daddy has been doing storytime since he's gone so much. But tonight was all mine. We cuddled and snuggled and all was right with the world because my baby was right where she was supposed to be.....with her Mama.

Now how in the hell am I going to survive her first day of school? They may have to pry her away from me---LOL!