a few things about me
self portrait
Just thought I would share a few random tidbits of information about me and what's going on at this exact moment...
*my feet are growing...again. I normally wear a size 8 1/2 but working on my feet all day wearing stupid "business" shoes have caused them to permanently swell to a size 9...which is growing snug...I am possibly a 9 wide. ugh. Oh, and why don't any shoe places have size 9's? I have looked for 2 weeks now, and only yesterday found a decent pair of 9's (but definitely not my first shoe choice...more like 11th or 12th.) Stupid big feet. Stupid job that won't let me wear flip flops. I should have gotten a job at American Eagle. THEY can wear flip flops AND tank tops. But that's why they start at $6/hr. I just think I would be a more efficient worker if I didn't have to limp all over the store, trying to smile and be nice while really wanting to cut my legs off for a little relief.
*my stupid nose is getting infected. My nose piercing is only 4 weeks old and I've had to remove it several times for work, so now it looks disgusting. The really irritating thing is that my tiny little diamond stud piercing is considered "offensive", but 3 of my co-workers display about 85% of their breasts daily, 2 of my co-workers (and one manager) have very noticeable tattoos (across the neck, upper arm, ankles) and 1 of my co-workers (who is the nicest girl ever) has the worst breath ever....but yeah, my nose ring is offensive. whatever. (said in a junior high girlish fashion)
*my kids "prefer" Dustin. Dustin must put them to bed. Dustin must kiss boo boos. Dustin must help give baths and take potty breaks and fix snacks and read stories...I'm a little sad, but at the same time, I've taken over the "fun parent" role. I bring cookies and "good ice" home from work, one hour before bedtime. I take them out to play before dinner. I bring fun and sunshine in the door at 6:40ish pm. It's a nice change...but I'm not going to get too comfortable with it...it will be back to normal soon.
As I'm writing this, Dustin walks out of the kids room to "charge up" the Care Bear. Bella has a glow in the dark Care Bear that Dustin has to "charge" in front of a light bulb nightly, so that it will glow and she will sleep better. What a good daddy.
*my husband is also a better housekeeper than I am. And cook. And unpacker. But I am way better at driving and typing and spelling and I read way faster than he does, so I still feel good about myself :)
*i realized today that I love my husband today more than i ever have. it just overwhelmed me today. he is hilarious and giving and nurturing. he runs stupid petty errands and does the detailed cleaning and pampers me when i'm sick and doesn't lecture me over stupid things that i do over and over again.
Tonight he is watching the news and walks into the room and says, "Man! A kid had a "Vote for Pedro" shirt on. He was only like 5 years old and he had that shirt. I WANT THAT SHIRT." He then made a pouty face, slumped his shoulders, and returned to the bedroom to continue watching the news. maybe i'm just easy to please, but that little mini tantrum made me love him more.
*I am re-discovering my love for Bath and Body Works. That store makes me so so happy. I love to smell good. I currently smell of Sweet Pea, but that will change in about 10 minutes when I take a bath with my Warm Vanilla Sugar scrub. My checkbook does NOT like the store. Money just slides away from me among the lotions and candles...
*I weigh more than I ever have, non-pregnant. I should probably mention that I have also re-discovered my love for the Great American Cookie Co. I get ice from them every day...oh yeah, and a big bite doozie. (2 small cookies with a filling of frosting in between...oh yeah) This means that I am about to work on my discipline (ice only, NO cookies) and try to lose this stupid weight once and for all.
*I think I am finished having babies. Working in the children's section of a department store gives me the opportunity to see all the new tiny cutsie little baby clothes coming out...but I also see the maniac children flying down the "up" escalator, while the other kid is tearing every shirt off the wall as the mother frantically tries to nurse the screaming infant...nope. Don't want to do that any more. Now what? I have no insurance, but I am quite fertile so I need to do something ASAP. I take a pregnancy test (out of fear, not hope) almost every month. I should come up with a better system (like actually tracking my cycle. duh.) because those tests aren't cheap.
*since our return from Mexico, tap water grosses me out. I drink purified bottled water almost exclusively now (with the exception of ice. Ice is a wonderful wonderful thing and I will take it any way I can get it.
Not your traditional burgers and potato salad...
4th of July
Okay, so I am SO far behind in this blogging thing, but working full time is taking it out of me. Seriously, this is the first time in YEARS, maybe the first time EVER that I've been in bed before 10 pm. So, that means my social life (which consists of Wal Mart trips and blogging) is pretty much non-existent.
This picture is from July 4th. We went to my brothers house and he cooked shrimp curry (and another one made with chicken, since my sister and I don't like shrimp) He is an amazing cook. This chicken curry with rice and apples and pineapple and bananas and broccoli and who knows what...seriously, SO good. He made stuffed mushrooms and shallots and his signature salad. His friend Stephanie brought homemade sangria (which Salomon said tasted like "Caca", but everybody else seemed to enjoy) My Mom made her amazing homemade Butterfinger ice cream for dessert, along with CJ's hazelnut coffee and chocolate creme brulee....man, we ate GOOD.
For days afterward, everybody seemed to ask the same question, "How was your 4th?
Didjall grill some burgers?" (which translates to "did you all eat hamburgers in celebration of America's Independence?")
What a great day. Oh yeah, and there were fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks.
Gardening fun with Juju and Tata
Bella's new joke
Bella has a great new joke and it goes like this: (her hands squish her cheeks together like in the first picture below, for the first part of the joke)
"Hi. My name is Chubby. My Mama's chubby. My Daddy's chubby. Even my dog's chubby.
One day, my daddy took me for a ride on a motorcycle. I said, "faster daddy faster! Faster Daddy Faster!! FASTER DADDY FASTER!!!"
(see second picture for punchline)
Chubby
SLOW DOWN DADDY!!!!!!!!
"SLOW DOWN, DADDY!!!!!!!!!"
Little Chair
Annabelle Grace
*First a note* I've been missing for several days. I went to the town that we are planning on moving to and applied for several jobs. Dustin and I talked about it and we both agree that it might be nice if I return to work for a while. I could use the break from being home 24/7 and he loves the thought of spending more time at home. I love him so much and appreciate how perfectly he meshes with me. Anyways...that was lots of rambling to say that I may re-join the working world after a 4 year sabbatical AND that WE ARE MOVING!!! :)
I have looked at tons of apartments and we should be moving next week! :)
(insert happy dance here!!)
After 4 days and nights away from home (the longest I have EVER been away from my babies) I came home to happy happy children, who showered me with kisses and hugs and only one short lived tantrum. It has been a wonderful evening.
This chair is so cute. I wish the picture showed the legs of the chair, which are painted with bright yellows and pinks and greens and flowers and polka dots...
I painted this rocking chair for my parents for Christmas the year that I was pregnant with Annabelle. My Mom cried (of course) when I gave it to her and my Dad spent many many hours, rocking it absent-mindedly while watching TV. He would get the cutest grin on his face just thinking of rocking the little girl that would soon be sitting in it.
After Annabelle was born, I could not imagine her ever being big enough to sit in it. She was so tiny. And now, she towers over it. Her feet touch the floor when she sits in it. She can actually rock herself, without Poppy's assistance (although she still prefers that Poppy rock her). She shares it so patiently with Julian (who prefers to stand in the chair, such a little daredevil)
I love this chair. I love the little people who sit in it. I love that I've gotten to watch them grow to a point where they are big enough to sit and rock and climb and play in this chair. And I'm glad that I can do something that will allow Dustin to be home more and sit and watch them grow with me.
More updates coming soon, promise.
Blueberry muffins
blueberry muffins
I want to be a fun mom. I want to let Annabelle help me bake cookies, and not get annoyed that she begs to crack the eggs when I KNOW that she's not big enough to crack the eggs. I want to let my kids play outside and actually play WITH them, rather than sit in the shade and complain about the heat and the bugs and the dirt and everything that is fun about playing outside. I want to take my kids to play at the park without thinking about the impending meltdown that is sure to come when I announce that it is time to leave...
but I am not that kind of mom. I am a complainer. A "do-it-myselfer". A boring mom.
But every now and then, I let "fun mom" out of her closet to paint with Bella, or to let Julian play with his food, cramming bananas and mashed potatoes into his ears and nose, or, like yesterday, letting Bella make blueberry muffins.
I got the magic blueberry muffin box out of the pantry. (i told boring mom to shut up, b/c she was complaining about the unhealthy ingredients in a muffin mix, and the health benefits of homemade muffins, complete with whole wheat flour, oatmeal and real blueberries...but today is "
fun mom's" day)
Bella saw the picture on the box and started doing the happy dance. She pulled her chair from the table to the counter and immediately started asking to help. She poured the ingredients from the measuring cups into the big bowl. She stirred the batter with a spatula. She lined the muffin tin with scooby doo cupcake papers. And then she licked that spatula until it was clean enough to put back into the silverware drawer (but fun mom is not
that lazy, she washed it first)
When 9 to 13 minutes were up, we waited (very impatiently) for the muffins to be cool enough to not scald our sensitive rooftops and then chowed down. Julian was so excited, sitting in his high chair, covered in blueberry mash. Bella was so so proud, saving a muffin for Amy and Tata, even calling Tata at work to announce the treat that awaited her at home.
By the end of the day, there was one lone muffin in the tin. I had planned on saving it for Dustin who would be home that evening. I wanted him to see Bella's creation. But sneaky little fingers pulled a chair to the counter, unwrapped the scooby doo paper and ate 3/4 of the muffin, before I caught her.
"Bella, I wanted to save that muffin to show Daddy what you made."
She was ashamed. She forgot to save one for Daddy, but they were just too good. When Daddy got home, she handed him the scooby doo paper and the remaining muffin crumbs and said, "Daddy, I made muffins today. This one is for you. Is it okay if I eat it?"
Daddy, who is "fun daddy" all of the time, said, "Bella, that muffin looks SO yummy. You did a good job making them. It's okay, you can eat mine."
Fun Mommy AND Boring Mommy, were both very very happy.
Animal House
Juju--the little tiny baby lion...
Annabelle loves to play animal games. Each day she decides what animal we are going to be and then we have to act like that animal throughout the day.
2 days ago we were moo cows. I am Momma Moo Cow. Bella is Baby Moo Cow and Juju is Little Tiny Baby Moo Cow. We moo'd our conversations to eachother. We ate "grass" and moo'd some more.
Yesterday we were monkeys. Momma Monkey, Baby Monkey and Little Tiny Baby Monkey. I carried the kids around my neck while crawling around the floor. I "hoo hoo'd" and "hee hee'd" until I was hoarse. They ate bananas.
Today we were lions. Momma Lion, Baby Lion and Little Tiny Baby Lion. Julian LOVED playing lions. He growled and roared all day long. He would hide behind chairs and jump out and ROAR at me. Bella roared. I roared. And then I took pictures of my Little Tiny Baby Lion, roaring his heart out.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I bought Annabelle a "Gloria chapstick" today. Gloria is the female hippo from the new cartoon movie, Madagascar. I have a feeling we will be hippos tomorrow.
*funny thing, while we were at WalMart today, I handed Bella the Gloria chapstick to hold while I was buying piles and piles of ribbon. She showed the ribbon lady the chapstick and said, "Look, I got schap-schtick."
She didn't quite understand Bella's interesting way of pronouncing chapstick, so I repeated, "chapstick". The lady acted impressed with Bellas new treat. Bella then said, "It's from Madagascar".
The lady said, "Amazing that she has a hard time with "chapstick" and then pronounces "Madagascar", clear as day."
Bella has given up calling it chapstick and now calls it "chopsticks". Apparently it is easier to say it that way.
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