Oh well

I do try to post more often but I have a lot on my mind these days and not a lot of brain power to deal with it all. Madi is still going to bed at 1am but she usually lets me sleep until Pedro comes in at 8am badgering me to wake up. :P

Also, I swear that my camera is eating my pictures because I swear that I had a cute one of Madi sitting up in her crib.... She is so funny. She is really good at putting her binky in her mouth. Lily never managed it. But I'll put Madi in her crib and walk back in to discover that she's found a binky, put it in her mouth and she's playing with a toy. She's very good at taking care of herself now. What a DELIGHT. This is the time of childhood I really like; they start exploring more, are more fun to be with, AND can do more things for themselves. I think I'll just leave her a stack of diapers next to her crib...

And how funny are Madi's eyes? One is blue and one is just not quite sure what to do. She smiled when she saw this picture. I'm glad that I'm able to raise my girls to have good (if not great) self-esteem. As someone dealing with her own struggles, having a dependable sense of self-worth can make life a lot easier. :)

And HOW cute is THIS???

Sigh

I weighed Madi yesterday and she was 17 pounds on the nose. She's only gained a very small amount of weight since her 6 month doctor's visit. She's active and she's grown a lot so I guess it's not THAT surprising. But I want to turn her car seat around and kids have to be one year old and twenty pounds so... Operative Fatten Madi has begun. I got her some whole fat milk yesterday. Hey, I get like six inches of legroom back!

Did I already mention that Madi can almost crawl? I can't remember. She can also easily sit up on her own. whew Crawling is still elusive. :) Probably good considering how dirty the floor is. ha! I guess I could just put mop heads on her knees. :) It's funny now when I wake up and look at her crib and see her sitting up and peering at me. :)

Yeah, I've been getting her to sleep on her own. It's just easier on me because I don't worry about where she's traveling to in her sleep. And she does travel. I still need to get a binky out from under the bed. She stuck her head through the headboard and spat out her binky. The small thud woke me up. Nothing bad happened but she could easily fit between the wall and the headboard so....

Oh geez. I'm listening to the rain and I could just so easily go to sleep. Sigh. I just have to remind myself that I will be able to nap in the future. :)

Again

Lily was watching the Allosaurus movie for the 3rd time yesterday, when I walked in and asked her what kind of dinosaur the allosaurus was chasing.

She said:

Lunch.

She kills me.

Oh dear

Lily: I'm afraid of storms. My heart is beating fast. It's hurting my boobie.

*****

Lily: I like the pizza man. I was naked and he laughed at me. ha!

Baby Burritos

Madilyn has turned a corner. Not literally. There's a certain self awareness about her now. I like this stage. She's getting into a crawling position more and more. She doesn't get anywhere after that, but hey, it's a start. :) So anyway, it's late at night and I have more stuff to do before bed so; pictures.

Madi has started rolling herself up in blankets. She does this A LOT. And no, I'm not kidding. She does all of this herself.





Lily, the ham.

Okay

So, here's what's going on. Try to keep up. I'm not working at the moment and I'm glad because it was kind of hairy trying to getting any time to relax or do anything. But I'm worried about keeping up my skills so that I can work in a year or two. I decided that practicing on friends and family would be a good way to keep up with things. So then I discovered, these things for facials are expensive, beds, products, etc. I wonder if I could write them off if I had a business? And what if I did a facial on someone and they had a reaction and sued me? I'd need insurance too. Unsure of what to do next, I called a lawyer who answered a lot of my questions but gave me some homework too. A business is a great way to protect myself from indemnity (if someone sues me they can only get the assets from the business - a massage table and some products! instead of my house) and after calling the home owner's association, I'm allowed to have a business in my home as long as no one can tell from the outside. AWESOME!

It's not too expensive to get started. Now I'm stuck with just a few more things to iron out, like what to call myself. No rude suggestions, please.

And if I decide in a few years, to work out of a spa or salon, then having my own business will look good on my résumé! It's not going to happen too soon but at least things are moving in the right direction. :)

It took so much courage for me to make that phone call - I can't even describe it. But I was so tired of sitting around wondering and ruminating. Knowledge is power!

Oh and in the future I might have to take a full-time job for insurance but I can always do my skincare thing on the side. So having my own business is an awesome idea!!!

** Also, I don't think I missed out on anything, do you? I thought about this upside down and inside out for months. **

My Day

Started ?, ended? at 12:30am when I finally got Madi to sleep. She proceeded to fuss and kick most of the night - not sure why. Pedro came in a 8:30 to abuse me to wakefulness.

Around 11, the girls and I headed out. We stopped at the UPS store first to return some shoes. Then, while stopped in road construction, Lily proudly informs me that she has to go pee.

So after a nail biting drive into Charlottesville, we get to the ice cream store that was the closest thing I could think of that would have a bathroom. They did, thankfully, so Lily relieved herself and we got some ice cream.

Ten minutes later, Lily informs me that she has to barf. After a few panicked moments, I emptied out the other bag for returns (appropriate, no?) and she put the whole thing over her head at my behest. After a few minutes and an open window, the urge passed. So on we went.

Next stop, CosmoProf for some Lily shampoo and hard wax. It was okay except for Lily trying to electrocute herself.

Next stop, the mall to return a shirt and buy a hat for the garden party this weekend. We were a while in Belk. While I was trying on different hats and keeping track of which ones fit on my big head, Lily was spinning the stroller around to entertain Madi. Until, that is, she flipped the whole thing over and Madi landed face first on the carpet. Everything went over: Madi, the stroller, my purse, etc. I threw the hats in the air and righted Madi. She had a little red spot on her head but otherwise was fine. I fussed at Lily who then commenced to cry all over everything and I had to buy the hat that was the wettest.

So, next stop....

I did see if the Gap would exchange children. He said something about the value not being equal. Oh well, I tried.

Next! Chick-Fil-A which had a ridiculously long line for the drive-thru. So we went in. I had a jar of food for Madi, which she inhaled but she also quite liked the fries. So after a leisurely sort of lunch...

Onto Sam's Club. Lily's feet were hurting by then so I had to put everyone in the cart. We also had to use the restroom so Lily got some more practice. Mercy. Sam's Club was pretty fast because I had the biggest trouble maker contained. Which gave me time to stock up on some wine. phew

Then onto Whole Foods, which I guess was pretty quiet. No one was dumped on their head and oh yeah, Lily did get fussed at for poking the meat. Why do children do that???

Then home, where I ran the perishables into the house before going to the farm for veggies.

Farm. Lily was asleep, Madi was happy, and there was no line. I might have (MIGHT) done the YWCA dance while waiting for them to bring me my bag. But it was almost 6 hours after we had left home so I felt like celebrating. That we were almost done, I mean.

So here I am. 5:30pm and hoping that my wine has chilled......

Lily

Me, to Madilyn: "How could anyone put down such a sweet girl and leave her in her crib?"
Lily: "Daddy did".

Lily: "Mama, daddy ate your ice cream while you were away".
Me: "Really?"
Lily: "Yes, he's a bad bad bad daddy".

Me, to Lily in bed after nap: "Lily are you okay?"
Lily: "umm yeah, the doctor says I'm okay but I need more rest".

I have never thought up an excuse that fast.

Ready

Well, I'm pretty much ready for Las Vegas. Lily keeps on messing up my stuff because she doesn't want me to go. Sigh. I did ask her if she wanted to go and visit with g-ma and g-pa and go to the aquarium but even that wasn't enough. Oh well, I'll be back Monday night. Late. It's fun to think that in 24 hours I'll be in Vegas! Tomorrow night, we're driving out to Red Rock Canyon. We both want to see the night sky in the desert. We're both bringing flashlights and I wonder if we should bring mace???

Madi still isn't crawling but she's trying now. I mean really trying. I wish Lily felt like wearing a shirt more often because then I could post more pictures of her and Madi. Sigh. In other news, I've been getting to the gym 3 times a week. I've actually been wanting to go. I like how I feel after wards. :)



Well, the baby is awake so here's one last picture. No, I'm not ready for it either.

Madi

Oh gosh, I am yawning. I've been staying up late reading Harry Potter. I know, I know. But I read while I wait for Madi to fall asleep, which can take a while. Then she falls asleep and I'm in the middle of a chapter. So what's a girl to do??? Anyway.

Madi sometimes drinks out of her sippy cup. Sometimes, she's only too happy to bang it on whatever is closest to her that makes the most noise. I'm trying to get her to feed herself. She's just not showing the initiative that Lily did. And that's okay, I'm just saying, she ain't showing it.

I had another busy day. Baked some bread (which is almost gone), made some banana bread for Pedro to take with him down to Yorktown. Packed a bit. Did loads of dishes. Etc. Nothing exciting but a lot of it. Oh and one of Madi's teeth is definitely poking through. She's been a little bear. I give her a dose of painkiller at night to help her sleep. She STILL wakes me up at 4am though. SIGH.

Yay!

Madi held her own sippy cup last night and drank from it. :) That's a BIG deal.

Also, in case you were curious:

My pecan sticky buns. My 8" cake pan was rusty looking so I used my square pan, as you can tell. I also used salted butter instead of plain and, unfortunately, I could tell. So next time, unsalted. :) It was still pretty tasty, or I wouldn't have eaten 4 pieces. :P







** The funniest part about this is that Pedro thought that I had just made this and he was adamant that there was dessert to be had when he got home from work. Awesome. **

Things I have done today

- Got up (that was a battle in and of itself)
- fed Madi
- .... don't remember
- did lots of laundry and dishes
- fed Madi and got everyone ready to go out
- went to CVS
- went to the bank
- went to the accountants and actually had to think
- went to the gym and signed up for a membership
- came home and unloaded the car
- fed Lily and picked up her discarded raisins
- did more laundry
- made bread

Is anyone else tired just reading that???

Computer / Easter

We went to g-ma and g-pa's house this weekend to celebrate Easter (egg hunt!) and g-pa's birthday. Pedro made him a computer and Lily helped. No really.




I can't put up all the pictures because Madi is beside me fussing away. What did I do before children? Oh yeah, got to sleep as much as I wanted. :P








I can't think of anything else. I'm super braindead. Madi's been waking me up at 4am for the past... week now? At least she's falling asleep faster. Sigh. I also have mucho on the brain trying to figure out everything that I need to get for Las Vegas (carry on bag, tan) and what I want to do for my birthday (Topeka's steakhouse). I guess I've figured most of it out!

How deaf I am

Pedro, in bed: Are you pooping?
Me, in another room: NO!
Pedro: I smell something.
Me: It's probably your armpit.
Pedro: It SMELLS like cinnamon rolls.
Me: Oh, you said cooking.

Grumpy Face

That's Lily. I know she's going through a big thing. I try to give her structure and support. Oh and by big thing, I mean a change. She's trying to make more of her own decisions but she's still a little girl and she isn't totally ready to let go of mom and dad. Hence the emotional out bursts. But she's still a good kid and sweet, most of the time. :)

She loves watching documentaries. IF they're about dinosaurs or sharks. She kills me because she doesn't know the alphabet but when I walked into the room yesterday, she informed me that I was looking at a tiger shark on the tv. You know? Anyway, I need to go and get started on my sticky buns. ummmm That didn't sound right. Happy Easter everyone and be glad you don't have to be Madilyn. (She almost never gets a photo by herself anymore).