Have you ever called your husband’s cell phone and had a female voice answer? Was your first reaction to think that you had dialed the wrong number somehow, so you immediately looked at the screen to see what number you had dialed?

Yeah, that happened to me today. It wasn’t the wrong number. It was Rochelle’s sister because he is doing some remodelling for them and he apparently had his hands full, so told her to answer his phone.

For a minute there, though, I thought I was in an alternate universe in which I might have to kill him.

The conversation this afternoon as I changed Little Girl’s diaper.

LG: Shorts!
Me: No, these are pants, sweetie.
LG: Jammies!
Me: No, these are your pants.
LG: Jammies!
Me: Pants.
LG: Jammies!
Me: Pants.
LG: Jammies!
Me: Pants.
LG: Jammies!
Me: Okay, fine have it your way. Jammies.
LG: No jammies Mama. Shorts!
Me: *sigh*

When I tell Little Girl not to do something or to do something other than what she is doing, I usually try to explain to her why I’m laying down the law. I’m not sure that it actually penetrates the synapses of her brain just yet, but I try at least, and it gets me in the habit it doing it for when she will actually understand that standing up on the couch with your back to the edge and your feet almost hanging off might result in severe bodily injury or at least a headache. When I finish my little lectures, I look her in the eye and say, “Okay?” to which she sweetly replies, “Otay Mama!”

Does that mean she actually stops doing what I ask her to? Rarely. But, at least she says it nicely. I’m trying to enjoy it now, because I know in a few years it will turn into that very sarcastic “yes mother” that every teenage girl has down to an art. You know the one? Where the mother is said with the same emphasis as you would use when explaining how the dog pooped in your shoes? Yeah, that one.

I hope “Otay Mama!” stays around for a long long time.

The colder it gets (cold being relative of course), the later the sun comes up, the harder it is to drag my butt out of bed at 7ish in the morning and go to the gym to work out. But, I try to remind myself when I’m lolling in bed trying to come up with a good excuse why I don’t have to go that day, that I’m doing it for Little Girl and Mike as much as I’m doing it for myself because they deserve to have me around for a long time. (I suppose that could be taken two ways, but you know what I mean.)

I also deserve to feel good, and once I’m out of bed, it’s not so hard to get dressed and get out the door. It’s the getting out of bed that hurts. But once I get there and start my workout, it feels really really good, and it gives me some time in my own head where I’m not worrying about what LG and Melody are getting into at that particular moment. And when I’m done? I feel terrific. I really do.

The Curves workout is great because it only take a half an hour and really, who can’t spare a half an hour three times a week to take care of themselves? It’s also not boring. I wasn’t sure how I’d take to the circuit workout style, but I really love it. You work out all your muscles and get cardio in, too. And how hard you work out is entirely up to you and how many reps you do each time. There’s good music, there’s usually other people there to talk to, and there are no men. Not that I have anything against men, but until I look more like Salma Hayek or Catherine Zeta-Jones, I don’t want to workout around men. So there.

Bottom line, I look into LG’s beautiful big green eyes and I know that it’s totally worth it. And I also know that as long as I keep it up, my energy levels WILL get back to where they were before I got pregnant. And that will also be worth it.

Of course, they’re closed the day after Thanksgiving. Right when you really NEED to workout. Darn them. ;)

I just saw a commercial for the movie Happy Feet. And one of the penguins said, “We have to find our heartsongs all by ourselves.

I won’t be sharing what I had to do to get them to put that in the movie.

But Hugh Jackman is one of the stars. I’m just saying.*

*You do know that I’m joking right?

Last night we had a family get together to draw names for Christmas since some members of the family wanted to start shopping before Thanksgiving. It also happened to coincide with a visit from Mike’s cousin who lives in Washington, D.C. It was her first opportunity to meet some of the kiddos (including ours), and it was, of course, nice to see everyone. LG was sad that her girl cousin wasn’t there, but she had a good time anyway.

This morning, I took her to the pediatrician’s office to get a flu shot. The pediatrician apparently only carries shots for under 3s, so next year we’ll be able to get one since her birthday isn’t until December and then we’ll have to reevaluate.

I was slightly torn about whether to get the shot for her this year since she is a pretty healthy kid and doesn’t have any respiratory issues, but since I was told that it is recommended for young ones to get the shot if they are going to be around pregnant women (and there is a slight chance that I could possibly get pregnant during the flu season), I decided to go ahead and do it.

She did pretty well. She hasn’t had a shot in about 8 months, and there is a big difference between a 15 month old and a 23 month old. As in language. OWIE!!! *sob sob* But it was over before she even realized it hurt and she calmed down pretty quickly. I’m sure she’s not going to be very happy with me when she gets another shot or two in a month when she has her 2 year old checkup.

After that we went to Joann’s because they were having a big sale and I needed to get a few things. Unfortunately, all the shopping carts were spoken for, so I had to let LG walk and be free. I normally like to have her riding in the shopping cart so I don’t have to watch her like a hawk while I’m trying to pick out fabrics, but no such luck today. So for the first time, she was free in a store. She actually did pretty well. Other than the couple of times she threw herself down on the floor and said “nini” and wouldn’t get up. Honestly, I’ve seen kids throw tantrums, scream, and run from their parents. Compared to that she was a perfect angel. So it wasn’t too traumatic. I might even do it again someday even if there are shopping carts available. ;)

The rest of the day has been pretty kickback. Mike is doing double duty today with the band, but he’ll be done early, so he might actually be somewhat awake in the morning. Imagine that. Even better, the new choir director at church started last week and so Mike doesn’t even have to go over there just to make sure things are all right. He’s free again! Yay!

Hope you’re all having a fabulous weekend!

It’s a mother’s right to brag on her child right? Okay, you’ve been warned. LG was sitting playing with this toy that we got her on our trip to San Diego.

Whether it’s the teacher in me or something else, from the beginning, I’ve tried to teach her the proper names for the shapes of the cubes (i.e. octagon, hexagon, parallelogram, trapezoid, etc.) and just figured at some point she’d remember them and when she went to kindergarten she’d be a geometry whiz. But little did I know that she was retaining them already. She was holding the hexagon and saying “ottagon” which, of course, translates to octagon and not hexagon, but still! It’s not like she can count the sides quite yet, and I still have to count the sides to know which one is which to be honest! And when I held up the octagon, she called it an “ottagon”, too.

Sure, maybe she just liked the word octagon and therefore remembered it, but I prefer to think that my baby is going to be a math genius. So hush.

Only crazy people have drumsticks lying* around with a toddler in the house.

Yes, I guess that makes us crazy. *sigh*

*Or is it laying? I never can remember which one to use.

Marlene and I got back to our twice weekly walks this morning, even though we were tired by the end of our little street. Hey! It’s been a few weeks! And we still did the whole circuit so there! I took along the early ballot that they sent me (which I didn’t ask for, but they sent me when I finally had them correct my address which has been wrong forever and which I will explain more about at the bottom of this post*) and dropped it off at the polling place which just happened to be right along our path. It was a four-page ballot, so having already filled it in last night and only having to drop it off and not have to stand there with a 23 month old trying to run away from me while I voted was a lot easier!

When LG and I got in the house after the walk, Melody didn’t greet us at the door like she normally does. I called her name thinking she’d come running, but still no Melody. I thought maybe Mike had let her loose in the big yard and forgot to bring her back in and close the gate, so I looked out the patio doors and saw her standing there. I couldn’t figure out why she didn’t just come in her doggie door, so I told her to “go around”. But she just kept standing there, so I went to see if maybe Mike had locked her out for some unknown reason. Uh no. But there was a pillow lodged in the doggie door which of course blocked her way in and out. Busted!

*When we built our house we had to also add a little street that wasn’t immediately added to maps and to databases and so on, so even though we were living on a Drive, we kept getting mail addressed to Avenue which the mail carriers would deliver to our house anyway because there was no such address on the Avenue that had our number and mail carriers tend to have more brains than databases do. Anyway, it took a couple of YEARS to get it all straightened out after much email and phone calls and letters and address changes and such. It was a royal pain in the butt. But one of the databases that didn’t recognize our Drive address at first was the county recorder, so all the voting materials came to Avenue. Mike changed his awhile back, but I was lazy and did not, so we got double of everything for awhile – one to him at Drive and one to me at Avenue. I finally got sick of it this year and called to change it and for whatever reason, when I did that, they decided to send me an early ballot. But you know what? I liked it. I’m totally getting an early ballot from now on, just so I don’t have to go through all the hassles. And that’s the end of that story. WAKE UP!

We’re sitting on the back porch as I type this, watching Melody chase birds and come very close to catching them because they choose to run first and then fly (silly quail) and Little Girl run around burning off energy. The weather is beautiful this time of the year. The temperature at the moment (8:21 am) is about 62 degrees so there’s a slight nip in the air, but mostly it’s just nice to be able to sit outside and feel comfortable.

We decided that since Mike is behind on projects, we would try to get up earlier so he could get out of here faster and I could go work out again. So this morning we got up a little after 7, and I got dressed and went to Curves and he stayed home to take care of Little Girl and spend his morning time with her. This was the first time I’ve gone to work out since I sprained my ankle and it felt soooo good. Tomorrow (hopefully if she is feeling okay) Marlene and I will get back on our walking schedule again and I’ll be on target for 5 days of exercise.

So even though last week was insane, this week is shaping up to be a good one. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Dear Melody,

Today is your first birthday. You are the first dog I’ve ever had that I knew the actual birthdate for, so this is truly your actual birthday rather than the “birthdays” I gave to the other dogs that coincided with other important events so that I could remember them.

I remember the day we got you. I couldn’t wait any longer to get another dog after we lost the last of our three fur babies. We went all over the place and just when we were ready to give up, we found you and your litter mates. We thought about getting another one of your siblings as well, but they wouldn’t let us. It ended up being a good choice for us, but we did know the moment that we saw you looking at us through the cage of the Humane Society, that you were going to come home with us.

As much as it’s hard for me to admit it, because I miss Majerle, Lady, and Bob terribly, the time was probably right for them to go. They were our dogs – Mike’s and mine – and we really did need a dog that would also be Little Girl’s and as much as they did love her in their own way, they were too old to really have patience with a little girl who wanted to poke and prod and pull and hug and lay on them like she does with you.

You are definitely as much her dog as you are ours. You love her dearly and though at times you drive each other crazy, when she is not here you miss her. I can tell. And you? You are her Woof! Her Meddy. Her dog. Her best friend. She doesn’t like to leave the house without giving you a kiss and a hug.

Don’t get me wrong. You definitely have your faults, but they don’t matter nearly as much as the fact that you have never shown even a tiny bit of aggression to Little Girl. When they describe dogs for adoption, they say things like “good with small children”, and that certainly applies to you. You try to herd her. She doesn’t let you. You still try. And she tells you “no!” and “good girl” and “stay” and “sit” and “off” and “uh uh” and sometimes you even listen to her.

But the most important thing you do is walk beside her.

Thanks for being a part of our family Mel-Mel! We love you!

Love,
Your Family

So why am I blogging at 10 pm on a Friday night? Why am I not in bed relaxing? Where do I begin?

First, there were the ants. The ants that started stinging me as I was standing next to the bed getting things situated so I could crawl in. Instead of crawling in, I got stung by an army of black ants. And by army, I mean, ARMY. Big army of black frigging ants. Crawling all over the floor around my side of the bed. Not Mike’s side. MY side.

So I go and I find the ant and roach spray and I spray and I spray and I spray and I spray. And I think I’ve killed most of the suckers, so I go get the Swiffer to swiffer their rotten little carcasses up so I can crawl into bed. But guess what? I get back with the Swiffer and I swiffer my little heart out and I turn around and MORE FRIGGING ANTS. No idea where they are coming from but they are making me really pissed off because I JUST WANT TO GO TO BED. So I spray and I spray and I spray and I decide Mike can clean up the rest when he gets home.

And then I decide to take a shower because after you’ve been stung by ants, you really need to take a shower to get the creepy crawly feeling off of your skin. I turn on the water and I go check on Melody who I had locked out of the bedroom during the extermination. She is standing with two feet in LG’s bedroom, which she rarely does because she knows she is not allowed in there. LG was probably talking to her, so I’m not going to get too bent out of shape over that.

Warning: The next part of the post is not for the faint of stomach. Proceed with caution. (Read on …)

Today we saw this in Target. Granted it was being sold for $249.99 in Target. But still. Okay, the idea is kind of a cool one, a horse that a little girl can actually sit on, a horse that moves its head around and makes noises and seems slightly lifelike. I’m sure a lot of little girls would love the thing. But to be honest, it creeped me out. All I could think of was how Melody would be going nuts and probably never stop going nuts and that’s only if we were lucky and she didn’t attack it and rip it to shreds. Bye bye $250. And also, it creeped me out. I don’t like toys that seem slightly lifelike. They creep me out. Did I mention the horse creeped me out? Needless to say, that thing will not be living in our house. Creepy.

Dear Little Girl,

Today you are 23 months old. In just one month, I will have completed two years of motherhood. That’s longer than a lot of jobs I’ve had. I guess you could call motherhood a job, and to be fair, there is a lot of work involved in parenting a small child, but I don’t really like to think of motherhood as a job because I have never had a job I have loved even close to as much as I love you. And plus, I don’t get paid. (Read on …)

So much going on, so little time to blog.

Tuesday was crazy what with a rehearsal at the high school and then rushing home to get LG in her costume and out to see her very special friends, Social Butterfly, Future Engineer and the Princess before they went trick or treating. After that we went to see Grandma and then another friend and then to Rochelle’s to end the night. I don’t think she quite understood why on earth her parents dressed her up in her cowgirl outfit and drug her out to strange places in the dark, but she had fun wearing her costume at least and she looked darn cute, too.

This morning we were supposed to be getting up at 6:00, but as usual my infernal body clock (no that’s not a typo) woke me up half an hour earlier than necessary. *sigh* Then we got ready to go, because we had to get LG to her grandparents’ house in time for us to get to the high school accounting for traffic. We ended up being a bit earlier than we needed to be, but that’s better than being late right?

The mass went very well, the kids sounded great, and everyone was pleased to see them carrying the weight on their own. I wasn’t a bit nervous for them because I knew they’d be awesome, but I was nervous wreck for me because I was afraid I’d make some huge conducting flub. I didn’t – just a few little ones, but a few little mistakes here and there are to be expected. As I told the kids, this is the first mass, so the only way we have to go is up. That’s always a good position to be in.

Mike took the day off from his other work since he had to do mass tonight as well and we had lunch at his parents’ house when we went to pick Michaela and then we went grocery shopping. Mike was treated with the running commentary of a little girl all throughout the store. The kid does love to talk! But it keeps me entertained, so I don’t really mind too much.

Mike saw a cheap toy electronic keyboard at the grocery store and decided to get it for LG (and he says *I* spoil her!) because she’s been showing a lot of interest in the “panno” of late. She was, of course, thrilled.

The weirdest thing that happened today? Was the cow on the side of the road a few blocks away from Mike’s parents’ house as we were on our way to the high school. Yes, we live in the city limits. No, it’s not common to see cows on the side of the road. Hope she got home safely!

And I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. If you missed the pic of LG in her costume, just scroll down to the post below.

P.S. I usually don’t mention the “cause of the month” that I have on the sidebar over there, but this month is both Diabetes Awareness Month and National Hospice Month, which are both causes very dear to my heart as my mother died of renal failure caused by diabetes and came home on hospice for her last few days with us. The hospice workers we were privileged to meet were amazing people and do a job that not everyone can do. I didn’t know a lot about hospice before my mother needed their services, but I gained an everlasting respect for them and they are definitely a worthy cause. They both are. So if you’re looking for a worthy cause to donate to, please consider either one of these. Thanks.