Archives for 2005

OK, so my tirade the other day was soothed overnight. I got busy at work again and calmed down and started enjoying life again. For some reason though, I can not get to sleep tonight. In fact, the past few nights I have had trouble going to sleep.

Emma was incredibly cute tonight. Earlier today I let her help me hold Lexi’s bottle. So tonight she did the same and she kissed her on the forehead and said, She’s precious. With that little lisp she has. It was SO. CUTE. I think she heard Scott’s mom calling Lexi precious. I’m not sure but I know I’ve heard her call her that. Man, they pick up everything you say. In this case, it was adorable. Earlier today I took the girls to Target. I really needed to get out and also wanted to see if they had the knock-off Robeez there in Lexi’s size. We went by the Halloween display and Emma says, That’s aMAzing. Huh? Not sure where she got that one from. Today she was talking to Mom on the phone and she tells her, I want to make cookies at your house because that’s what I like to do. Or something like that. She says it so matter of factly she sounds like she like 7 years old or something.

Lexi has been doing not so good at night. OK but not great. Last night she didn’t take her bottle so she woke up at 1:15 and demanded a bottle – don’t ask how an 11 month old can do that. Then was up again at 6:30 for another bottle. The good news is she slept until 9. Emma climbed in bed with me about 8:20 or so and watched Disney channel until Lexi woke up. The norm for Lexi at night though is to go to bed at 8 or 8:30 and then wake up some time between 4 and 7 to eat and then sleep until 7:30 or 8. Which is definitely better than 6 months ago. Lexi is walking everywhere. She still falls quite often. She is NOT good in shoes. The Robeez is the only thing she can walk in successfully. She is still not saying any words very clearly. Momma and da-da and every once in a while gets a sort of bye-bye. She is really into dogs lately. If she sees one or even hears one in the neighborhood she stops to listen and starts babbling. No idea what she might be saying.

Lexi finally slowed down eating a bit. She still eats way more than Emma, but she does have a stopping point at dinners. She starts throwing her food on the floor when she is and Mattie is usually there to pick it up. Her little pincher grip is finally working. She is starting to pick things up with the end of her finger and thumb instead of side of the finger and thumb. Hopefully she’ll get better and better at feeding herself. I tried to hand her a pop-tart today to eat on her own but that didn’t go over so well. She chewed a whole bunch up and then choked on it.

Scott has been working a lot this week. He got a new police car Wednesday and had to go to Columbia on his day off to get it so he has been gone a lot. Scott said he had to go to work tomorrow and Emma said, again?? She is even noticing. The good news is they are going to give him his time back from going to get his car. The bad news is the weather here is so rainy, I seriously doubt it will be this weekend.

I am drowning with work all the sudden and can’t seem to keep up. I plan to work some this weekend and even Monday, which I should be taking off. And I’m going into the office on Tuesday. Hopefully I’ll get caught up. Tomorrow I’m concentrating on cleaning the house (again!). Mom is taking Emma tomorrow so hopefully that will help. With Lexi being so mobile now, it’s actually harder to get work done. The weird part is she’s more mobile, but actually acts like she wants around people/held more. She does much better when Emma is around than when she’s not. So actually I’m not sure if it is helpful that Mom takes one without the other. But I can’t help but feel guilty even suggesting that. I really want my hair cut so I may ask her to watch them just if I can get an appointment and forget the house cleaning. It crossed my mind today to get someone else to clean the house like I used to. And then I thought my real problem is the clutter not the cleaning. Cleaning is a cinch (how do you spell that?) if I can just get the crap where it’s supposed to go.

Ok, if I don’t get to bed soon, I’m going to be an absolute zombie in the morning.

This is one of those days I feel really crappy. Emma pooped in her panties. Lexi has a snotty nose. She won’t eat good or sleep good. Emma is aggravating me. I don’t have any work to do because I’m waiting on everyone else to do their dern job they’re supposed to do. I’m washing clothes which never seem to end because oh yeah, Emma keeps messing up her panties. We’re on like number 3 today and it’s only lunch. I’m feeling clausterphobic. I don’t want to feed anyone else. I’m tired of picking up dishes. I’m tired of checking in at work. I’m tired of trying to be a good wife. I just want to lay in bed and watch tv all day or go out shopping and blow some money. And oh yeah, I’m tried of keeping up with the checkbook too. Somebody please remind me how lucky I am to have a wonderful job, two excellent children, a great house and a wonderful husband.

I’m at work today. Not much going on so I’m kind of bored.

Emma is almost potty trained. She has even gotten up early in the morning and told us she had to go potty. We still have the #2 issue though. She won’t go and I had to clean nasty panties twice yesterday. Ugh. And I have to do this all again with Lexi in a year or two. Once Emma got on the bandwagon though, she has been pretty easy. Just that initial force to wear panties and she was with it!

On the way back from Maryland Emma dropped something and Mom said O, Brother! Emma says, I’m not a brother, I’m a sister!

Mom and Emma were in the bathroom and she tore some tissue for her. It came off in a little piece and Emma says, This is NOT good!

Lexi is walking up a storm. She walked from the recliner into the kitchen where I was cooking, turned around without falling down and walked back. She is definitely a walker! I am having issues though finding her shoes that I can get on her feet. I got a pair of Robeez from my friend D and they work out well but I’d like to get her some shoe-shoes, you know? Her little (big) foot won’t go into a 3 but a 4 is too long. I think I’m going to have to take her to Stride Rite for a pair. I’ll probably get her sized and then buy some on ebay.

Speaking of which, I bought a Gymboree outfit on there and the white shirt came stained pink! I looked back at the listing and it says it was “dingy”. I don’t remember reading that part and it sure isn’t “dingy”. It is light pink! Grrr. If nothing else, I can wear the red pants on her so it wasn’t a total loss but still! I paid almost $14 for that outfit with shipping.

I bought a book in Maryland called Rekindling the Romance by Dennis Rainey. It was quite eye opening into realizing the thoughts of most men. I can kind of understand where Scott is coming from now. I had him read the first chapter of the Men’s section and I hope it did the same for him. I really think it will help us. We’ve sort of been on two different pages the past year or two. I also realized through a bible study I’ve been doing that I was holding some anger/bitterness toward him. It was all founded in truth and we talked about it. He knew I was telling the truth and said he was going to try to change. We’ll see. I know I feel a weight off my shoulders just telling him about it and being able to point it out.

Which reminds me that Starting Over has started again. The couples one seems good but a little hard to follow. I don’t think they go in depth enough or something. I haven’t watched every episode, so maybe that’s the problem. I am looking forward to the part when they get back to the women though.

And onto more new fall tv shows. My favorites House and Grey’s Anatomy started back up and they were fantabulous. Tonight is House again and I can’t wait! I about died laughing at the Emmy’s when the guy presenting with the House guy acted like he was faking his accent. The funny thing was, I was in shock after hearing him on Regis and Kelly. I had no idea he was faking an American accent. That is so weird to me! How do you fake an American accent? I know lots of actors do it, but I would like to hear us from their perspective one time.

Lexi is walking probably 50-75% of the time. It’s amazing how fast she has taken it up. She wants down in stores and outside to walk all the time now. It does make things more difficult but it will be great before long.

Emma is really enjoying school. It has really made it so much easier for nursery at church. She tells me even before we go now that she’s not going to cry. It has made life so much easier in that regard.

Lexi is trying to say all done. I’ve taught her all gone in sign language so she knows when the food is all gone. Otherwise, she gets quite tempermental about it.

We are going to MD this weekend to see my cousin get married. Scott unfortunately can not go. My parents and sister and me and the girls are all riding in our van. I’m not sure I’m really looking forward to it. However, I have to admit it will be nice not to have Scott’s impatience with us. But, I will miss is authority, decision-making skills and ability to handle problems in general. Plus, he won’t be driving :). Oh yeah, and I’ll miss him too. hehe. I know the girls will miss him for sure. This will be the first time Lexi has been without him for any stretch of time.

Everything seems to be going so quickly lately. Lexi tries to walk almost everywhere she goes. She made it 14 steps this past Sunday. She hasn’t gotten more than 5 or 6 this week though. Have I mentioned she moved to formula a few weeks back? I still nurse her in the early morning, but that’s it. She does really well on it and it is very freeing for me. She is getting really, really attached to her blankie, She will fight you for it!

I was teasing Emma about something I said I was teasing her and she says My Pappy teases me like that. It was cute. I love when she says “my” Pappy. Today she was looking at our family pictures and she was pointing to MIL and she says MawMaw calls my angel and MawMaw calls me sunshine. It was adorable because MawMaw sings You Are My Sunshine to her. It was almost a teary moment. I hope I remember to tell her when I talk to her next.

So yesterday or the day before I decided Emma just needed to be potty trained. So I started putting panties on her. And today, she told me twice that she had to go on her own and ran to the potty with me. And she went!! I was SO excited. She did poop in her panties but that’s bound to happen at first. I hope with the weekend coming since she isn’t going to be at home as much that she’ll continue it. I don’t know why I must overthink this so much. But I am SO TIRED OF WIPING POOP. I remember another blogger who said almost those same words a year or so ago and I am confident that her little girl is not in a pull-up anymore. I know it will come but I am ready! Really, it’s amazing how much she has improved even just by making her wear the panties. I sort of got the clue that she could handle it when the other day she was getting ready to go (I could tell) and she asked me whether she had panties or a pullup on. Uh yeah, if you can wait for me to answer that question, you can run to the potty before you do it.

So Scott put mulch down where we had the rocks in the yard and it looks SO good. I love it. Then, we bought a metal bench from Home Depot and put it on the front porch. But then because of the railing, you couldn’t see out since it’s such a small porch so I barely mentioned taking out the railing to Scott and not more than 20 minutes later, he had the jigsaw out and cut it out. We are going to wrap some 1×4″s around the posts to make them more substantial. So then D’s friend A came over to show us a design for the yard. She is going to NC State next year to get her master’s in landscape design. She talked to us about some things but didn’t have her drawings. She is supposed to be emailing me the drawings. I can’t wait to see them. She sounded like she had some really good ideas.

Today my grandmother turned 70. I called her today. I think she was pretty surprised. She didn’t send me or my sister a birthday card this year. It was very unusual. When my mom asked her about it, she basically said she thought she deserved a card from us. Uh, yeah. Let’s be 2. When I found that out, I already had some pictures for her in an envelope to send. So I think I got back on the good side with her. I think my sister doesn’t care if she does or not. She already has said she doesn’t support her relationship with her boyfriend and I think this is just one more thing on her list about her. It’s too bad.

Lexi is getting big so fast. Tonight she took 5 steps toward me while Mom and Dad watched on. It was kind of that running, I can’t believe I’m not falling type of walk but still, it counts. She is really coming out of her shell. She claps. She waved good-bye for the first time to Candie on Wednesday. She turns her hand back and forth. She has started shake her head no vigorously when she is done eating and doesn’t want anymore. She says no-no, ma-ma and da-da. She is really easy going. If she is fussing, she is either hungry or tired or just wants held, usually later in the day.

She has impetigo right now. I guess she caught it from Emma from a couple weeks ago. Both her and Emma have had runny noses. Emma has had a bad cough. There’s always something.

Emma seems to really like school. She has cried twice when we’ve picked her up but she claims it is because someone else was crying. She gets excited about going. They have great little activities for them to do. Last week they planted grass and learned how plants grow. We were out watering plants the other night and she said why are we watering the plants. I said because they need it. She said because they need water like we need food? I was like, uh, yeah. She amazes me how much she retains. She doesn’t forget a thing. She makes you repeat it like 5 times sometimes to get it, but then she doesn’t forget.

Scott decided to pull up the rocks yesterday from the front yard so we can put mulch down. Then we decided to get pieces of rock to put around the water fountain we had put in a couple weeks ago. It looks REALLY good. We even had a neighbor stop to say it looked nice.

Last night D & I painted her bedroom. Her girls were staying with her mom and Mom had Emma and Scott kept Lexi. We finished painting quickly in 2 hours. We then went out to eat at Longhorn and then got coffee at Starbucks. It was probably the most relaxing 5 hours I’ve had in quite some time. Even the painting was relaxing. We talked and talked and it was great to catch up with her and get something done without any interruption (as we speak Emma is standing in the chair behind me hugging me, saying Are you typing? uh-huh Why? I want to type! I want to type like you did. I want to type that thing. I want to type, Mommy. I want to type, Mommy. Well, I’m typing, honey. I want to type. See, Mommy, look, my hands are dirty. Then she is making some whirling noise). So, last night relieved me so much, I think the old saying is true that Scott and I need some date nights.

We haven’t had a night out besides one hour at a time to dinner in quite some time. Some days go by now and we barely kiss. We need some quality time out for sure.

So this Katrina situation has been on my mind all week. I haven’t watched really anything else all week. I have cried at the children without food or diapers. It is insane that those poor babies went without anything they needed. The Superdome was ridiculous that it was so out of control. We should have been way more prepared. I’m not sure how, but they’ve got to figure it out. It felt really good when all those troops came in last night and today. I almost cried with relief when I realized they were finally going to be rescued. I as so glad when I-10 was cleared of everyone.

Lexi started saying no-no this past week. Sometimes she points her finger, sometimes not. It’s more like nah-nah or something but she says it just like us. She waves bye-bye but doesn’t say it yet. And she’s clapping. It doesn’t make a lot of sound yet but she thinks it’s good. She is getting better and better and standing up without holding on to stuff and she always looks like she’s ready to take off and she’ll sit down and crawl. It’s to the point where she is almost in a running-crawl. Everyone says she’s getting big all the sudden. I haven’t really been able to tell, but her clothes are getting smaller and she eats like a horse. She ate a banana and meat at 5 and then wanted more food when we ate about 6:15.

Emma stayed at Mom’s last night. She asked for milk so Mom heated it up like she normally likes and Emma says Not bedtime milk, chocolate milk! LOL I have never called her warm milk bedtime milk but she does have it before nap/bedtime.

I have been at the chiropractor several times the past two weeks. He said the curve in my neck was 90% gone and he is trying to correct it. I hope it works. We only have a $1000 limit for chiropractic care, so hopefully it won’t take much longer.

I have been watching So You Think You Can Dance. I didn’t really want J-something to leave this week. I thought his dancing was very original. I really like M-something. What’s her name? Meredith? Melanie? Something. And her friend. Not Chad, the other one. I wish Allan or Snow would go home. Everyone loves Allan but I just don’t think he has enough technique. The two that did the ballroom dancing were really good this week. I can’t remember their names either. Boy, this is exciting. Not much good if I can’t remember who I’m talking about.

I also recently got into Growing Up Gotti. They had a run all afternoon last Saturday and I watched it for 3 hours while I did housework on and off.

And of course I’m watching Miami Ink. They were hilarious this week bowling and translating it into Portugese and Japanese. I was laughing so hard.

Lexi took 2 steps toward me today. The last was sort of a scoot, but two legs moved! I can’t believe it is time for her to start walking already. It seems she just learned to crawl. She is still sleeping until 5-6 in the morning. It has been great not having to get up in the middle of the night. I still would like to sleep to 7, but I don’t push my luck yet.

Emma started preschool this week. She has gone twice and has only cried when I picked her up the first day. The teacher said she only cried when they lined up in the hall and some of the other kids were crying. The first day they made picture frames and today they painted with shaving cream. Yeah, they can leave that there. She seems to enjoy herself and says there is a Mattie Grace in her class which I think is sort of ironic.