Big Girl and Little Girl Developments

So Miss A has officially moved to a 'Big Girl Bed'. See here.




(Yes, that is a Barbie bedspread. Handed down from her cousin. It actually matches the room, saves me money and so on and so forth. A likes Barbies and I loved them too when I was little.)

I asked her to sit on her big girl bed and smile and this is what I got.







It's going pretty well so far, which is shocking to me. I did not think she would stay put but she has. We go through the same bedtime routine except that I lay bedside her on the bed and read to her, we pray, we sing (and at this point she often asks to go potty which is probably a stalling technique but she does actually go so I'm not going to refuse) and then when it's time for bed I kiss her, tell her I'll see her when the sun comes up (not literally) and say "Nighty, night night night night". She giggles, repeats and I turn the light off and pull the door almost closed. Done.

So far so good. Now, having said that said I will also say that I expect there will be issues... There always is. She seems to go through cycles with bedtime. Sometimes it's easy and routine goes well, sometimes she totally bucks routine and tries to pull all kinds of crap. So that is coming... I'm sure.

As for the little one. She continues to be an amazing baby. I can't believe she will be a month old tomorrow! Wow. My only complaints are her late owl tendencies as of late (she wants to stay up until almost midnight, meanwhile I'm nodding off in the chair) and her habit of overeating and then puking copious amounts. I'm not kidding. It is something to see. It comes out of her nose and mouth like a fountain. I sit there helpless, trying to catch it, fumbling for a kleenex, anything, while also trying to keep her from drowning at the same time. It's really rather ridiculous. Then we go and change all of our clothing.



I'm trying to keep up with things around here, without overdoing it and I'm trying not to feel overwhelmed. Trying to find balance with the scales weighing heavier on the 'spending time with the kids' side. I've been wanting to post for days and yet haven't until today. (And I've had to stop several times to - get paint, clean up paint, help wash hands, help brush teeth) I have dishes to put away, dishes to wash (I'm beginning to see the appeal of a dishwasher), I'd like to dust and wash the kitchen and bathroom floors and oh yeah there's that load of laundry downstairs...

Anyway. AND I read 'Breaking Dawn' which I thought was amazing and I'd love to write a review here but I'm going to wait to give people more time to read it. I recently discovered that there are fans(?) who really hated it. I of course acknowledge that everyone is entitled to their opinion but some of these people are starting a campaign encouraging people to return their books to 'send a message' to Stephanie. For pete's sake. Not only that, but some people are making ludicrous claims about things that the book is supposedly promoting. (I won't mention these because they could be considered spoilers.) Mostly this depresses me because I think it would be awful to pour your heart and soul into something, like this book, only to have people be ungrateful, misinterpret and basically crap all over your effort. You don't have to like it, just don't be so ridiculous... Rant over.

Slacker

I have been a total blog slacker recently. I don't know if it's my obsession with the short story I have written (I've been getting it ready and trying to think of a title, which thankfully, I finally did.) or what it is. Maybe the weather?

I've been going through a strange time of feeling overwhelmed by everything. I had been looking at the house for the past several days knowing it was in desperate need of a good cleaning. Yet, I couldn't seem to find the time, or the motivation to do it. I finally did tonight. It always feels so good when you do get it done.

I've also been feeling that way about meals and cooking. It's as if the season change has thrown me off and I'm not sure what to make. So weird. I made a good stew in the crockpot last week. I should be relieved that it's crockpot season again. It really is so much easier.

It could also be this cold. Week two - phlegmy cough and solidly stuffed nose. I am going to the gym today regardless. I'll take it easy or something.

Anyway, it's an unusual feeling to not have 100 blog posts building up in my head these days. I seem to have nothing. No inspiration. No cute stories to tell. I've barely been taking any photos either. Miss A is SO unfun to take pictures of right now. She refuses to stay still and only wants to see the screen. In order to get a picture one must hide it until the last possible moment and hope you get a decent shot before she notices what you are doing.

Copycat

Today I was once again reminded that my daughter watches EVERYTHING we/I/everyone do/does.

Last night I was pounding the nails back into one of the drawers of our horrifically awful cupboards while she watched. I thought nothing of it at the time. This morning she had her toy hammer and when I heard her banging away I found her determinedly hammering the SAME drawer. It really hit me what a copycat she is. The responsibility hit me like a brick in the face.

I hope I remember that the next time I lose my temper. She already has my frustrated growl perfected.

Our House... in the middle of our street

So part of the motivation for my cleaning spree is that I wanted to take pictures of our house. For posterity and also to give you all a tour of sorts. But see, then I broke the camera and well... I've been having nothing but trouble completing this project. My darling husband actually fixed the camera last night. Bless his heart. He reconsidered on the buying of a bigger and better one. That is simply to expensive for us right now, which was why I was so shocked to see his comment! I took the remaining pictures this morning and now for some reason am having trouble uploading them to our computer. So this post shall be – Part One.

I'll post a few pictures here but what you really should do is go here to see all the different angles of the room and get the full tour. Don't you want to come to my house?

Another disclaimer. My house NEVER looks this clean and tidy. I try, but it just doesn't. That is another reason I took the photos. To remind myself of what it could look like and hopefully will again some day.

This is our front entrance. I love the door. And that is about it. This area was once a porch and they 'transformed' it into a front entrance area with ugly closets and poorly done dry walling. I don't think it's properly insulated either. And that window is drafty. (Wow! I didn't mean for this to be a complain about my house post...) Notice the shoes all lined up. Not like that anymore.



If you came in our front door the first thing you see is our dining room. This was what sold me our house the moment I stepped in the door. The hardwood and wood work, beautiful. It's a bit cluttered now with a piano and everything but I still love it.




Our hallway. Just off the dining room and also the kitchen. That's my second degree black belt certificate hanging on the wall. Hang a left to A's room.




A's room. I still love that color even after almost 2 years of looking at it. I love her furniture too. Even though she's chewed the crib... little beaver. You can't tell from the picture but the plain wall has textured wallpaper on it with small squares on it. It works with the gingham curtains and blanket.




That's all for now. Stop by next week for Part Two!

Good and Bad

Good – This awesome temporary shade I purchased for Miss A's room seems to be helping her to sleep better. As in, not get up at 5:00 AM angry because the sun in shining into her room and waking her up.

Bad – My jaw/head/neck has been aching since Friday. A side effect from the wisdom teeth removal. I thought I wouldn't have to be taking drugs anymore. No such luck. I wanted to go to the gym this morning but I thought it would just make my head pound more.

Good – There has been a language explosion happening here. A has started using some humorous expressions. “Oh Boy!” “Oh My!” “Uh Oh!” and my favorite which I have yet to hear “Holy Moley!” (I say that one.) Also “Please” (Pronounced Peas) is music to my ears.

Bad – She seems to be teething again. Complete with runny/stuffy/snotty nose, chewing anything and everything and a generally HORRIBLE demeanor. She is not a kid I enjoy taking out in public at present. Unfortunately never going out is not an option. Swimming lessons tonight should be good times...

Good – I spring cleaned my entire house this weekend. I still have no idea how I was able to do it. I haven't been able to clean this much at one time since before Miss A was born. It feels amazing to have everything clean at once. My OCD is kicking in though and I'm picking invisible specks of dirt up off the floor.

Bad – It has been raining since Friday. That means we have pretty much been cooped up in the house. No walks, no playground, no yard work. Nothing. Ugh. We all need to get some fresh air.

More Bad – I broke our digital camera. Peter if you read this before I get a chance to tell you, I'm sorry. I feel just shitty about it. It was a gift. I'm not sure if it is going to be worth it to fix it. I suck.

Home-Work

I have designated a 'work at home' day. How would that be any different from any other day you may ask. Well the specific 'work' that I'm about to do is some of those tasks I've been avoiding. The kitchen ceiling fan has about an inch of dust/grease/gunk on it which I am bravely going to tackle. Also our computer armoire is harboring some pretty enormous dust bunnies and dust bunny offspring. Not to mention I am doing laundry and have a new curried chicken recipe on the go.

Although I have yet to complete these daunting cleaning tasks I know that once I have I will feel an over whelming sense of accomplishment. This only makes me slightly sad. I don't think I realized how much having a baby would hinder my ability to keep up with the most basic housekeeping. (And those of you out there with more than one child, I am humbly awestruck that you ever get anything done at all.)

It seems that I spend all day running around from room to room picking up messes like this.



Which isn't so bad, I know but it really is a constant job all day long. And if I ever want to get any cleaning done I must do it while Miss A is sleeping otherwise she'd be right in the middle “helping”.

I think it would be slightly easier if I ever had any significant amount of time when Peter and I were both at home. That way he could distract A and I could accomplish something. As it is when I'm home he's working and when he's home I'm working. With the exception of Monday (yoga), Tuesday (volleyball), Friday (tired) and Saturday (exhausted) evenings. Sunday is our only full day together but we have church, lunch with family, nap time for A and down time for us then small group in the evening. It's ridiculous I know. I could adjust our schedule I know but honestly I don't know how. And I'm mostly okay with it really. I'd love to have more time for cleaning but more importantly to spend time as a family. We are doing what we have to to pay the bills. And it won't be this way forever. (I keep telling myself this.)

And as I complain about my lack of time I sit here during perfectly good nap time NOT getting my tasks done. So off I go.

Operation – Fix the Cupboard

So I mentioned a while back how fun it was to baby proof our crappy cupboards. But once we did we were all like “Ha! Let's see you get in there!” See, we had total confidence in our baby proofy gadgets. We failed to consider however, the extreme crappyness of our cupboards. (Yes, I know I'm making up words. So what!) Imagine our surprise one day when Miss A was yanking on the cupboard doors trying to get in while we stood back watching her with amused expressions thinking, she'll never get in. Get in? No. Pull the cupboard door right off it's hinge? Yes. Okay, in actuality the hinge broke off the wood it was screwed into. Because the wood was garbage. This was no longer amusing.

Upon closer inspection and realizing that due to the wood essentially crumbling apart it would not be a quick fix. It would require replacing that board with a new piece of wood and totally disassembling the cupboards. What a pain. It stayed broken for at least a week and on Sunday we finally began the task of repairing it.

Miss A was very interested in helping which was cute and funny for about five minutes and then I had to take her to her room to read books and play with her babies. The job took several hours (all of which my kitchen was in shambles) because there were interruptions like supper, having to rewire a table saw (I didn't do that) putting a baby to bed and Law & Order (C.I.). We were finally finished by around 10:30. Just in time for bed.

Here are the photos of our progress.





I am happy to say that they are back to normal and my kitchen no longer has pots and pans and stuff strewn about. My blood pressure has gone back down to normal. My cupboards may be ugly but they are functional once again. (For now.)