Leah has always been the comedian of the family. Yesterday we spent a long day inside together as it rained most of the day. There was quite a bit of thunder and lightning--we've told the girls that it is just God bowling that makes all that noise. So they had to come up with an explanation of the rain (must be God sweating) and wondered who was winning, God or Jesus. And of course Leah asked the all important question of, "Does God have bowling shoes?"
Later Emma was in her room and saw a large flash of lightning. She came out with a look of wonder on her face and was like, "That was the biggest lightning I EVER SAW!" Leah was quick to correct her grammar--"No, SEEN!" Nothing like learning incorrect grammar from your younger sister. ;)
At supper we were watching Shrek the Third and one of the characters called himself a loser. Leah sort of gasped and said, "You should never say loser, that's not good."
More on Leah tomorrow as I reminisce about her birthday. We're hoping to avoid all Dr.'s offices, ambulances, and hospitals tomorrow. Been there, done that . . . twice.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
The end is in sight
In just 13 days that big, old yellow bus will be rolling down the street at 7:31am. Summer has gone by quickly, but some days the start of school won't come soon enough. Of course there are things I had wanted to get done over the summer that I didn't even attempt, and other things we should've done but didn't do. Like my closet cleaning/organizing project? Yeah, that never got off the ground.
At the beginning of the summer, I dubbed it "The Summer of the Sisters". The girls would play together all day long, and still want to speak to each other the next morning. And for the most part they played nicely together. I gave Emma the task of reading a book to Leah before naptime, so usually Emma would read and then tuck her in. They took turns playing on the computer, they watched movies together, Emma pulled Leah in the wagon, they played in the sprinkler, they dumped 3, 892 piece of Littlest Pet Shop accessories on the floor multiple times. For a couple weeks they even slept on Emma's floor together.
As you know, even the happiest of couples needs some "alone" time. The whine factor has increased this week (or my tolerance has gone down, one of the two) and yesterday they were quick to separate when I told them to go play by themselves. But once that bus rolls in on the 20th, Leah is going to be a little lost. Thankfully she will be going to preschool three mornings a week, but she won't start until after Labor Day.
Growing up I had two sisters and never remember playing with them like these two played together this summer. Maybe it is because I don't remember a whole lot from when I was 6, or maybe it was the fact that the age differences between us were a little more (3 years older and 4 years younger). I had to share a room (and a bed!) with my younger sister and the memories I have of that aren't all sunshine and roses. And by playing with each other you mean torturing each other and locking each other out of the house, then yes, I guess we did play together.
In these last 13 days before school start we're going to try and get a lot done: free bowling, going to the swimming pool, celebrating a birthday, going to the State Fair, having all the family over, and maybe even going to a local park or two. All that and trying to adjust our bedtime/morning routine to accommodate the 7:31 pick up time should be fun. Ha!
At the beginning of the summer, I dubbed it "The Summer of the Sisters". The girls would play together all day long, and still want to speak to each other the next morning. And for the most part they played nicely together. I gave Emma the task of reading a book to Leah before naptime, so usually Emma would read and then tuck her in. They took turns playing on the computer, they watched movies together, Emma pulled Leah in the wagon, they played in the sprinkler, they dumped 3, 892 piece of Littlest Pet Shop accessories on the floor multiple times. For a couple weeks they even slept on Emma's floor together.
As you know, even the happiest of couples needs some "alone" time. The whine factor has increased this week (or my tolerance has gone down, one of the two) and yesterday they were quick to separate when I told them to go play by themselves. But once that bus rolls in on the 20th, Leah is going to be a little lost. Thankfully she will be going to preschool three mornings a week, but she won't start until after Labor Day.
Growing up I had two sisters and never remember playing with them like these two played together this summer. Maybe it is because I don't remember a whole lot from when I was 6, or maybe it was the fact that the age differences between us were a little more (3 years older and 4 years younger). I had to share a room (and a bed!) with my younger sister and the memories I have of that aren't all sunshine and roses. And by playing with each other you mean torturing each other and locking each other out of the house, then yes, I guess we did play together.
In these last 13 days before school start we're going to try and get a lot done: free bowling, going to the swimming pool, celebrating a birthday, going to the State Fair, having all the family over, and maybe even going to a local park or two. All that and trying to adjust our bedtime/morning routine to accommodate the 7:31 pick up time should be fun. Ha!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Insomnia
If there are three things I will remember about the summer it would be 1. cooler than normal temps (love it!), 2. insomnia (hate it!) and 3. I can't come up with a third due to lack of sleep. I had my bouts of insomnia with each pregnancy, and no--I am not currently pregnant. Usually I am woken up to go to the bathroom, or hubby is snoring, or the cat sounds like he's going to hack up a furball and then I can't get back to sleep.
I will say that having insomnia in 2009 is way better than in 2003 and even 2005. You see, back when I was pregnant with Emma we only had cable and dial-up internet. My late nights/early mornings were spent channel surfing and deciding which would be better to watch--reruns of Roseanne on Nick at Night or infomercials. Now we have high speed dial-up, satellite dish service, and DVR. Usually my first stop on the insomnia bus is on the computer, and there I will sit for an hour or two. Let me tell you, not many people update their Facebook status from 2-4 am unless they are in a different country. Although one time I did have quite the IM conversation with my BIL (who keeps very odd hours) where we came up with what we thought was a lucrative business proposal.
Anyway, last night was yet another sleepless night. I got up around 1 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I only spent about 5 minutes checking Facebook and a few other usual sites and decided to read instead. You see, I have had a book on my Goodreads "to read" list for awhile now, and for some reason unknown to me our library doesn't carry this authors books. I first read the Jen Lancaster book Bitter is the New Black a few years ago and thought she was hilarious. She has another book called Bright Lights, Big Ass (A Self-Indulgent, Surly Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?) that I've been waiting to read and have been too lazy to put on an inter-library loan list. I was at Borders on Saturday looking for a birthday present for Leah and there in the "Buy one, Get one free" bin was the Jen Lancaster book. I started reading it yesterday afternoon and reluctantly put it down before bed. I ended up finishing it shortly before 4 am.
I thought life was good and I would get a blissful 4 hours of sleep, but about that time the thunderstorm hit. We have had very few thunderstorms this year, and this one happened to wake up Emma who came to join me in the guest bed. So maybe I got a couple hours of sleep after 5 am. That's what coffee is for, right?
On a side note, Bright Lights, Big Ass had me laughing out loud more than once yesterday. I've never seen an author so eloquently slip the term "asshat" into literary prose. She also refers to Rachel Ray as Miss Titter McHighbeams and drops the "f-bomb" enough times to practically lunge at Emma and grab the book away from her as quickly as I could because she knows how to read, you know. And I wasn't up to the task of defining asshat and f*cktard to a six year old just yet. Foul language aside (if you don't like that kind of thing), the book is hilarious.
Anyway, for as many hours as I've spent wide awake this summer when I should've been sleeping I could've gotten a lot of productive things done like alphabetize our DVD's or dust the baseboards. But then I wouldn't have had time to hone my mad skillz at Bejeweled Blitz at 3 am and catch up with all the blogs I read and get those Facebook updates from people I know in foreign countries.
I will say that having insomnia in 2009 is way better than in 2003 and even 2005. You see, back when I was pregnant with Emma we only had cable and dial-up internet. My late nights/early mornings were spent channel surfing and deciding which would be better to watch--reruns of Roseanne on Nick at Night or infomercials. Now we have high speed dial-up, satellite dish service, and DVR. Usually my first stop on the insomnia bus is on the computer, and there I will sit for an hour or two. Let me tell you, not many people update their Facebook status from 2-4 am unless they are in a different country. Although one time I did have quite the IM conversation with my BIL (who keeps very odd hours) where we came up with what we thought was a lucrative business proposal.
Anyway, last night was yet another sleepless night. I got up around 1 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I only spent about 5 minutes checking Facebook and a few other usual sites and decided to read instead. You see, I have had a book on my Goodreads "to read" list for awhile now, and for some reason unknown to me our library doesn't carry this authors books. I first read the Jen Lancaster book Bitter is the New Black a few years ago and thought she was hilarious. She has another book called Bright Lights, Big Ass (A Self-Indulgent, Surly Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me?) that I've been waiting to read and have been too lazy to put on an inter-library loan list. I was at Borders on Saturday looking for a birthday present for Leah and there in the "Buy one, Get one free" bin was the Jen Lancaster book. I started reading it yesterday afternoon and reluctantly put it down before bed. I ended up finishing it shortly before 4 am.
I thought life was good and I would get a blissful 4 hours of sleep, but about that time the thunderstorm hit. We have had very few thunderstorms this year, and this one happened to wake up Emma who came to join me in the guest bed. So maybe I got a couple hours of sleep after 5 am. That's what coffee is for, right?
On a side note, Bright Lights, Big Ass had me laughing out loud more than once yesterday. I've never seen an author so eloquently slip the term "asshat" into literary prose. She also refers to Rachel Ray as Miss Titter McHighbeams and drops the "f-bomb" enough times to practically lunge at Emma and grab the book away from her as quickly as I could because she knows how to read, you know. And I wasn't up to the task of defining asshat and f*cktard to a six year old just yet. Foul language aside (if you don't like that kind of thing), the book is hilarious.
Anyway, for as many hours as I've spent wide awake this summer when I should've been sleeping I could've gotten a lot of productive things done like alphabetize our DVD's or dust the baseboards. But then I wouldn't have had time to hone my mad skillz at Bejeweled Blitz at 3 am and catch up with all the blogs I read and get those Facebook updates from people I know in foreign countries.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
I'm working on it
Yesterday as I was in my exercise clothes Emma came up behind me and "smooshed" my love handles. "This looks normal," she says as they were flattened by her smooshing. Gee, thanks. "Is that why you do all that work?" Yes, dear--I try anyway.
Good thing she is my own daughter. I'm off to the treadmill, although I don't think any amount of running will ever make those love handles "normal". Just one of the many gifts of childbirth and genetics. I can't wait to tell her that in about 30 years.
Good thing she is my own daughter. I'm off to the treadmill, although I don't think any amount of running will ever make those love handles "normal". Just one of the many gifts of childbirth and genetics. I can't wait to tell her that in about 30 years.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Where did this ambition come from?!
I think I've mentioned before that I am very decorating challenged. I don't know what my decorating style is, or if I even have one besides "cheap, easy, and boring". My crowning achievement in decorating is the gallery wall I put up last year, but other than that we have lots of blank wall space. I mean LOTS.
It seems like everyone's house I go to is beautifully decorated. Obviously they have more talent (and money) than me. I've even put off having the neighborhood gals over because of my lack of decorating skills. Don't get me wrong, I have a beautiful house--I just want it to feel like my "home".
I have a couple friends (and friends of friends) who are either interior designers or just very good at decorating. In the past couple months they have visited and given some suggestions, and yesterday I decided to get cracking. I started with the entryway since it is the first thing everyone sees when they come. I still have a few things to finish off, so no pictures yet. (I know, this post is useless without pictures--I just wanted to document that I actually did something!)
Here are a few sneak peaks of what may be in store for when you come to visit:
The rug I got is actually bigger than this one has has more of the floral pattern to it. For all I know it may be way too big for the space but the colors were exactly what I wanted and I loved the pattern.
There is also a picture frame (awaiting a photo from our photo shoot) and my large mirror which I need to rotate after being given that suggestion by someone who knows way more about decorating than me.
Now I only have about 8 or so more rooms to go. I have a few more ideas rattling around my head and even have some of the materials to put things up, but need many more opinions from the "experts".
And what is your feeling on the vinyl wall sayings? Can you have too many? Will they be passe soon? I love the look of the one I put up in the entryway and am ready to put them up all over.
It seems like everyone's house I go to is beautifully decorated. Obviously they have more talent (and money) than me. I've even put off having the neighborhood gals over because of my lack of decorating skills. Don't get me wrong, I have a beautiful house--I just want it to feel like my "home".
I have a couple friends (and friends of friends) who are either interior designers or just very good at decorating. In the past couple months they have visited and given some suggestions, and yesterday I decided to get cracking. I started with the entryway since it is the first thing everyone sees when they come. I still have a few things to finish off, so no pictures yet. (I know, this post is useless without pictures--I just wanted to document that I actually did something!)
Here are a few sneak peaks of what may be in store for when you come to visit:
The rug I got is actually bigger than this one has has more of the floral pattern to it. For all I know it may be way too big for the space but the colors were exactly what I wanted and I loved the pattern.
There is also a picture frame (awaiting a photo from our photo shoot) and my large mirror which I need to rotate after being given that suggestion by someone who knows way more about decorating than me.
Now I only have about 8 or so more rooms to go. I have a few more ideas rattling around my head and even have some of the materials to put things up, but need many more opinions from the "experts".
And what is your feeling on the vinyl wall sayings? Can you have too many? Will they be passe soon? I love the look of the one I put up in the entryway and am ready to put them up all over.
Monday, July 20, 2009
The county fair--by the numbers
Number of:
- Nights spent at Grandma & Grandpa's -- 4
- Hot dogs/corn dogs consumed by two girls -- too ashamed to admit the actual number
- Homemade ice creams devoured -- 2 (not enough, but I stayed away this year)
- Times riding the small train around the fair -- 3
- Hours spent riding rides -- 4
- Times they asked if they could ride rides again -- 10,000
- Times the girls went on the pirate ship -- at least 8
- Meltdowns -- 1 (seemingly over a hamburger split into 2, I think she was over-tired)
- Wheels on the stroller with cow poop currently on them -- all
- Contests entered -- 1 (we didn't win)
- Miles put on the van just going back and forth to the fair (6 mile round trip) -- 80
- Withdrawals from the Bank of Dad -- I lost count
- Potty accidents being in underwear full time -- 0
- Times I did my new Jillian Michaels "No More Trouble Zones" DVD while on vacation -- 2
- Miles I ran at the fitness center while on vacation -- 2.5
- Calories consumed -- not enough to be burned off by 2 DVD sessions and a 2.5 mile run
- Years of marriage celebrated by my parents today -- 40
I hope to get pictures up on the blog, they are on Facebook already. We had a great time!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Lazy Days of Summer
As someone *cough, Glenda* pointed out on Facebook, it has been awhile since my last post. Like about two weeks. And although I wish I could say I was too busy organizing the closets that need it desperately or I was working on the girls' baby books which are fairly empty and incomplete at 6 and 4 years after their birth--that wouldn't be the truth. The truth is being lazy takes up a lot of time.
I will say in the past two weeks we have been to a minor league baseball game, picniced (is that a word?), got drenched, watched fireworks, played golf (not me, hubby), ate good food, played with cousins and second cousins, had family photos taken, visited the zoo, watched hubby play softball, visited with a college friend, and went out with adults by myself. So see, I haven't been that lazy. But since most of that happened in a three day span, we don't do too much on our "off" days.
I promise, there will be more posts coming. There are things I can talk about like how maybe we have conquered potty training. And how I am crazy and am running a 5K tomorrow. Maybe even some pictures of our fun three-day vacation to Omaha. And next week the girls and I are making our annual trek to my hometown for the county fair, so lots of blog fodder there.
Before that I'll leave you with a link to a preview from our family photos. I "met" Amy online when she and her husband were looking for information on the hospital in Omaha as they were expecting a baby with CDH and leaning toward moving there. Their CDH baby, Liviana, is now almost 18 months old and cuter than can be. Amy joins me in the ranks of overeducated and underpaid moms as she also has a master's degree and stays home. She recently discovered a love for photography and started her own business. I was so happy that she was able to meet up with us in Omaha and meet Leah and take some pictures. Check them out here. And that adorable girl in her header is Miss Liviana, their CDH miracle.
I will say in the past two weeks we have been to a minor league baseball game, picniced (is that a word?), got drenched, watched fireworks, played golf (not me, hubby), ate good food, played with cousins and second cousins, had family photos taken, visited the zoo, watched hubby play softball, visited with a college friend, and went out with adults by myself. So see, I haven't been that lazy. But since most of that happened in a three day span, we don't do too much on our "off" days.
I promise, there will be more posts coming. There are things I can talk about like how maybe we have conquered potty training. And how I am crazy and am running a 5K tomorrow. Maybe even some pictures of our fun three-day vacation to Omaha. And next week the girls and I are making our annual trek to my hometown for the county fair, so lots of blog fodder there.
Before that I'll leave you with a link to a preview from our family photos. I "met" Amy online when she and her husband were looking for information on the hospital in Omaha as they were expecting a baby with CDH and leaning toward moving there. Their CDH baby, Liviana, is now almost 18 months old and cuter than can be. Amy joins me in the ranks of overeducated and underpaid moms as she also has a master's degree and stays home. She recently discovered a love for photography and started her own business. I was so happy that she was able to meet up with us in Omaha and meet Leah and take some pictures. Check them out here. And that adorable girl in her header is Miss Liviana, their CDH miracle.
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