Happenings

I've been waiting to do a new post until all of the 'big events' of our day-to-day lives started to decrease, but I see no end in sight. So, this is what's been happening.

Isabelle is quickly getting bigger and bigger. So big, in fact, that soon she will need a new car seat. Jer and I have decided that it will be much more economical to get Carter a new booster, and to move Bell Bell into Carter's seat that he's been in since he was her age....so so long ago. I've been to almost every store in the area comparing car seats. I've been online comparing car seats, and then back to each store for a 2nd look at all the car seats. I can't decide.

Which, is the sole reason for Belle being in the infant carrier for so long. Do I spend the extra money for the EPP foam lining, or do I get the cheap one with just the plastic and the cover? Since, they all have to pass a safety test, anyway to go on the market. And, do I really write down the measurements for each seat, and then compare them to the measurements in my car to find one that will take up the less amount of space? Or do I just buy the one that Consumer Reports ranks highest?? Even though it may mean that we all may not fit in one car until Bell turns 1? (She has to be rear facing until she turns 1, and then the front seat has to be pushed all the way up almost to the dashboard for her car seat to fit.)

At any rate, there will be 2 new car seats purchased within the next few weeks. And there will be photos. Don't worry.

I've had the opportunity to work some overtime, and, as we all know, Jer just works ALL the time.

Carter and Isabelle enjoyed their first parade a few weeks ago. Isabelle was cheery as a peach, getting passed around the entire time, and Carter started to really get into the swing of the parade during the last 10 minutes of it. (It was 2 hours long.)

Jer has begun a new project, despite our decision earlier this year to invest in new windows, AND NO MORE PROJECTS!!!! And, despite my pleas for plumbing in the newly remodeled upstairs bathroom. And, despite my udder disgust of the dripping pipes in the basement.

Yes, Jer has begun a new project. He has gutted and begun to paint the three season porch. I'm pleased as pie. Can you tell?

I bought a giant bucket of cookie dough, and thought I'd make the cookies to take to the parade. I didn't take the cookies to the parade. Instead, we ate them over the course of a week.

Carter and Snoopy cruised in the Coupe with the help of Daddy,

and Carter decided that it was fun to draw on the Magna Doodle. I think he will be left handed.

And as Carter quickly grew out of the high chair, Isabelle quickly grew into it.

Although, I am COMPLETELY convinced that Carter makes the bigger mess at mealtime, and should be the one messing up the high chair, and not my beautiful dinning room table.

But isn't that what little boys are for??? Certainly little girls don't make messes like these!!!!!!

Our 3rd anniversary is coming up next week, and Jer and I have both taken the day after off in hopes of a relative taking the kids overnight so we can 'raise the roof' and have a late night out....so far, it looks like we will be at home doing the usual -- dinner, clean up, play, baths, bed, collapse. I'm thinking that even if we did ship the kids off for a night at home alone, I'd end up crying for them anyway. So they should just as well be there, and we just as well should stay home. Its cheaper, and maybe not worth the hangover the next day anyway. :)

I'm also taking the following 2 days off of that same week to put together and finish this rummage sale that we started ONCE AND FOR ALL!

During this time off, I would also like to shop for some work pants that FIT me, work on painting the fence, paint the porch (Jer's project), get rid of my cold, and purchase 2 new car seats.

My new work out plan has left me will little to NO free time in the evenings, but I hope to post another blog next week.
Stay tuned.

The Ouch

And don't ask about the "ouch" on his head. No one really knows what happened.

Box Tops!!!

My latest discovery is box tops. I ransacked my pantry, closets, and storage room in the hopes of finding some box tops.

This is how they work: You buy items at the grocery store, cut the box top off the packaging, and take your collection to a local school. For each box top, your school earns 10 cents.

I went online to find out what I have been throwing away that had a box top on it, and I about had a heart attack. So I downloaded the list if items, and ran about my house cutting out box tops. I earned my school $3.10!!!!

I couldn't believe the items I had in my pantry that had a box top, and all these years I've been literally throwing money out the window!!! (My toilet paper had box tops on it for Pete's Sake!)

Of course, now that I have small children, making sure that Carter and Isabelle's future schools are well equipped and have money is more important than ever.

So, I encourage all of you to visit the Box Top website, download the list, and start clipping those box tops!!!!!

And then take them to Harry Spence or Central, since my kids will probably be going there. :)

The kitchen remodel plan

Just for the record, this is my kitchen before the money saving remodel. Any suggestions are welcome. Lord knows I could use your input!

And this is the kitchen that I would love to have someday. So, we are proceeding with a blackish tile for the counter top, and a whiteish tile for the back splash. The kitchen cabinets are getting painted white, with brushed silver hardware. We have a new brushed silver faucet, and the sink will remain stainless steel. Jer will build an island, with seating in the back as pictured above. The door is getting painted, and the wallpaper above the cabinets will be a tan color.

Kitchen remodel

Being married is a two way street. There are times when I make decisions and Jer complies, and there are times when Jer makes decisions, and.....I comply.

For example, if I am adamant about buying Huggies over the store brand even though they are 2x the price, he will comply. Since, after all, I am the mommy and SURELY know more about diapers than he does. And, when I insist that I just cannot drive the old car w/o air conditioning because I will die, and demand to take the newer good car, he complies. Since, after all, I am the woman and he SURELY is tougher than I. And lastly, I am usually exempt from taking out the garbage, since he is much better at lugging things around than I. Especially when they stink (unless it is a baby, of course).

With all that said, here is Jer's latest decision that I will comply with, reluctant or not.

*Let me just remind you of the kitchen I was dreaming of. I did want to save the money to completely re-do it in a few years, including knocking out a wall or two and adding a small expansion.

Jer got a wild hair and decided that we need to re-do the kitchen with whatever money we can afford RIGHT NOW (without finishing the plumbing in my upstairs-almost-finished bathroom) and have it finished in the next 2 months. Not my idea of planning a remodel, but, this is how my husband makes decisions, and sometimes I have to comply. So, I am working with him.

We picked out a possibility for tile, some new curtains, and decided we were painting the cupboards, and agreed on some new hardware. Also, he wants to build an island for the middle of the room. I'd like a new appliance or two. So, the saga begins...

BUT DON'T WORRY, I'LL BLOG ALL ABOUT IT!

Saving Time

I thought that maybe I could get a few pictures posted, minus a few stories, for the sake of saving time. Apparently, everything around here is about efficiency, and saving time.

Time saver #1. I present Isabelle, forgoing mama feeding her the squash to eat her own toes. That's efficient, right?

Time saver #2. Toddlers are never time savers....especially when they are "hide-in".

Time saver #2. Finding Nemo. Carter will actually sit on the couch and watch that video for a solid 20 minutes. This is efficient because it gives me time to clean the kitchen all in one swoop, rather than a bit here, a bit there, throughout the day. Bonus if I get to the basement and put a load of laundry in without him noticing.

Time saver #3. Does playing in the pool count as a bath???

Monsters in Monsterville

So some funny things happened tonight after we all got home.

First, Isabelle needed to be fed her baby cereal. I began to feed her, and she began to fuss (just like she did last night). Apparently, Jer is baffeled by this because she never fusses for him. So Jer and I both get in her face, and we are cooing and ooohing, and trying to make her happy so she will eat and not fuss and cry. I'm saying, "oooh, all she wants is a bottle" thinking she's too cranky and tired to eat 'real' food. Since, this was the case last night.

So I put the bowl of food down and marched into the kitchen to promptly fix her a bottle.

Meanwhile, dear sweet baffeled Jer picks up the cereal and starts to feed her, and she eats it, and she likes it.
I look into the dinning room from the kitchen to see her kicking and eating and having a jolly ole time.

Excuse me?!?!?! My jaw dropped.
Did my husband just 'one-up' me??????
So I re-enter the dinning room and we all sit down for dinner, and I finish feeding Isabelle in between my bites of dinner.

I'm still not sure what that was all about, but I found it entertaining.

Then, during dinner, Jer told Carter not to "eat with his mouth open", which I found to be hilarious. Jer was the least bit amused with my laughter following his attempt at discipline. I suppose if he made more sense it wouldn't have been so funny....I'm still giggling.

A few minutes later, Carter began saying "raarrrhhh!" like he's a scary monster. I told Carter that we are eating, not playing, and this repeated itself a few times.
Until suddenly out of the deep dark pits of monsterville, came a gigantic
"R-A-A-R-R-H-H-H-H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" out of daddy's mouth. I had to remind him that 'we are eating, not playing', and again we both had a good laugh because it was apparent that Jer had HEARD what I said to Carter just seconds ago, but obviously wasn't LISTENING.
(I think this happens all the time.)
Sometimes it feels like we are sabotaging each other's attempts at discipline....gee, I'm not sure.



Following dinner came play and then bedtime. Fast forward to the part where daddy's holding Carter ready to take him to bed, and I ask Carter for a kiss. He leans over and gives me my kiss. Then daddy asks for a kiss. Carter leans over and gives him a kiss.

I thought this was fun, so I asked for another kiss from Carter. And holy moly, I got another kiss. Then daddy felt that he too needed yet another kiss, and that lucky duck, he got a second kiss as well!!

I got a third, and daddy got a third, I think we both got up to 6 kisses each, and then Carter interrupted this pattern to point to his bedroom and say "nite-nite!".
It was as if he was saying "this is dumb, and I'm tired." and he nipped it right in the bud.
We laughed, and laughed.
So now, this post needs to be nipped in the bud, because it's 9:31 and past my new bedtime!!!!

Story about the ducks

Daddy bought a loaf of bread.

Carter squished it, and it didn't bounce back.

Daddy and Carter wanted to feed the bread to the ducks.

Daddy took Carter to feed the bread to the ducks.

Except mommy saw the bread on the counter after they left.

Daddy forgot the bread.

The ducks didn't get fed.

Now they are sad.

But Carter will feed the ducks another day.

Until then, the ducks will have to eat everyone else's bread.

Those poor ducks.

The End.

Mommy Confessions

I'm stalling on potty training Carter because:
1. I'm not sure how to do it
2. I'm afraid of the stress
3. I'm afraid of the messes
4. It's easier to just change a diaper

I've got the potty topper, I've got the pull ups...but for some reason I just can't get started.

Conclusion #1. Maybe I should increase the dose of my anxiety medication and try again.
Conclusion #2. Maybe I should suck it up and quit whining.
Conclusion #3. Maybe Carter isn't ready anyway.
Conclusion #4. Maybe I'm making excuses.
Conclusion #5. I need to take a nap and sleep on it.
Conclusion #6. This is getting me no where.

I think I am more part of the problem that I am part of the solution....

Been So Postless

Why do I have so much drama in my life???? The last few weeks have been action packed with jaw dropping chaos, which has left Jer and myself completely exhausted. Between trying to pick up extra hours at work, and not being able to GET to work, finding babysitters, and trying to stay ahead of the game are all separate posts of themselves. Some of you know what I'm talking about, and many of you don't.

Jer's hours are way crazy. His new job is like boot camp. The hours are incredibly outrageous, and we just can't wait until Jer is no longer "the new guy".

I have given myself a new bedtime; 9:30pm is the latest I will allow myself to stay up. Friday and Saturday nights included. Last night we were all in bed by 8:40pm!!! I've decided that routine and a schedule work much better in this house than 'winging it'.

Carter is turning more and more into a big boy each day. And Isabelle is expressing her personality to its highest potential.

I love my children so much, and lately I've been learning to appreciate them more.

Thanks to a new medication (started it about a month ago) that is helping me manage my EXTREME anxiety, I feel much more in control of what seems to be my out of control life. So far, so good. And I think I'm a better mom and wife because of it. So, the family is happy that mommy is 'chillin-out' a bit. :)

And so am I.