The Poky Little Bunny

he used to do surgery on girls in the eighties

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:37:34 GMT

Still nauseated, still exhausted. I know I have been neglecting LJ horribly but between feeling rotten all the time and Cash giving up naps, I just can't sit here tip tapping away about all my minutiae anymore. I feel bad about it, especially for my own sake, I always love being able to go back and check what i was doing any given day.

Really my "morning" sickness is worst at night, so with Cash not napping, by the time he falls asleep, I feel utterly miserable and want to just go to bed myself. If he were sleeping during the day, I'd likely be better about writing.

We actually had a good weekend, I woke up saturday not nauseated & actually stayed that way until nightfall. So it was the best I'd felt in 3 weeks and we took advantage. I had a bacon egg & cheese breakfast from McD's that totally hit the spot. From there we headed to Pier Park for their Boo on the Beach event.

It was a hit, though Cash was less interested in the doggie costume contest than we thought we would be. Who needs doggies when there's a train and a carousel? He rode the train twice and the carousel 5 times. Would have ridden the train more but since they don't have an all you can ride pass for it like they do for the carousel, it was $9 for all 3 of us each time. Where $10 bought 2 all you can ride passes to ride the horsies and Sean and I just switched off going with Cash.

We also got jelly beans and saltwater taffy in the candy store and had a bit of a shop at Old Navy. ALl in all it was super fun. Capped it off with a drive through DQ on the way home for lunch. I had onion rings.

We spent the rest of the day watching football and playing with Cash. LSU sure had a good game.

Sunday was my first day flying solo as floor supervisor at church, except I turned out to have a helper after all, so it wasn't as overwhelming as it might have been. I got to use the walkie talkie a lot though, that was fun!

When we came out of church the festival of nations was going on right across the street, so we walked over there and hung out. Cash & I shared a funnel cake, which was his first and he is definitely a fan. What else he is a fan of, is bagpipes. There was a pipe and drum band playing and he was just mesmerized! He actually sat still for a good 15 minutes and would not be moved. Whenever they finished a song and people would clap, instead of clapping along as he normally would, he just cried "MORE! MORE! MORE!" It was funny, who knew?

He was pretty tired on our way back tot he car (we had walked an incredibly long way for his short little legs) so I had to carry him. Which pretty much blew out my lower back. Thank God I have a massage appointment on thursday, I need it desperately, I am in a lot of pain! 37 lbs of baby is a lot to carry on one hip for three long blocks.

He actually took a nap so Sean and I were able to chill and watch football. Wow, what a Saints game!!! Sean Peyton must give some killer half-time pep talks, I tell you what. That was quite a comeback. I love it!

Sean and I had kind of a fight in the evening, but it was resolved fairly easily. After Cash went to bed and we'd gone to bed, we somehow ended up singing a duet of Lionel Richie's "STuck On You" that was just the funniest thing ever. I was still laughing about it monday morning.

Monday we went to the punkin patch with a bunch of our playgroup friends. Cash and Tyler and his other friend Trey were more interested in the nearby ditch and some rocks and big sticks than they were in the pumpkins. THough Cash did find that if he jumped on the carpet of baby pumpkins spread out on the grass, they would roll out from under his feet and make him fall down. He found that hight amusing and did it quite a few times.

From there, we all took over the nearby McDonald's playland and hung out having mommy chat while the kids played for a good 90 minutes. It was super fun, perfect weather for it, all in all, a great morning out.

Cash had been awake since 6 so I thought surely he'd nap, but I thought wrong. He fell asleep in a matter of minutes at bedtime though, little guy was bushed!

Slept for 11 hours too! We were almost late to work today.

Here's a few of Cash's church girl friends

The usual suspects

Stealing Em's cheerios when she's not looking

He calls this one "Blue Steel"

Excuse me! The lady's out of cheerios!

Giggling together. So cute!

After MOPS we went to lunch with Semra & little Lily. Cash & I shared a slice of Derby Pie, since we'd eaten a big snack in class. Oooh it was some fine pie indeed.

Unfortunately, nothing I ate from then on out could measure up & I have spent most of tonight puking.

Though I did make time to watch SYTYCD. And that's what the rest of this will be about, so stop now if you don't care or don't want spoilers.

Sad about Billy Bell, I loved him. Think Mollee & Nathan's disco was best evar & that they are super cute. SO glad Russell is safe. Think Legacy's personality needs mending but there's no denying his talent. Hope Noelle's leg gets better. Thought Bianca & Victor's routine was amazing & I liked Ariana & Peter's a lot more than the judges did, obviously.

All in all, I am excited about this season, even though I am super sad about Mia, her dances were always some of my faves.

oh, not so much lethargic, as so much uninterested

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:49:02 GMT

I recently saw mention of a child named Ryily. Pronouced Riley. Oy.

Still feeling miserable and exhausted all the time. I've only thrown up four times (two of them last night) but I am pretty much non-stop nauseated. And sooo tired, all the time.

Cash got a haircut yesterday, he looks fabulous

Yesterday Rachel came over to cut his hair & then we had more friends over for a spooky cookie decorating party which was a blast. I made sugar cookies and provided orange and black frosting and little sugar pumpkins, bats, spooky sprinkles, etc... and let the kids go to town.

We had soooooo much fun today! We went to this place:

http://funland-arcade.com/arcade.html

All the staff were so nice and they had tons of little kid games. Cash ended up with over 1000 tickets! He saw a train he wanted in the prize case right when we got there & it was 725, so I told him we had a lot of work to do. He went to one machine (they have like a toddler sized basketball hoops shooting game, which is GREAT, Cash always wants to play the big ones) and won 5 tickets then ran back to the case for the train. Ha ha! When we had a ton of tickets, I figured it was enough and put them in the machine to count them, but we were 45 short.

So while Cash fooled around on the merry go round with his friend Reyna I went back to the ball dropper machine and spent $2 in it until I hit the 75 ticket jackpot and Cash could get his train. Then while we were having fries & a hot dog for Cash & ice cream (their food & ice cream is super yummy, they have diner type breakfast stuff too which totally made me want some) some lady handed me & Shaina, Reyna's mom, a bunch of tickets, so we split them up and then I had to use up $3 more of tokens and ended up getting a ton out of the wheel of fortune. So all in all Cash got loads of prizes, though he really only cares about his train.

They do birthday parties there for really reasonable, for $70 you get food, drink, cake & ice cream for 7 kids and 70 tokens. I might do that next year for Cash!

It was really fun but exhausting running around after him, I was ready for a nap! Unfortunately Cash was not. He waned to stay up and play with his train.

At least he was entertained enough that I could relax through the afternoon.

Aside from a sub-par pumpkin scone from Starbucks and some french fries at the arcade, I hadn't been able to stomach any food all day. They they mentioned pizza on Survivor and that was all I could think about.

I ended up ordering a brooklyn style from Domino's at 7:30 and by 8:10 3 pieces of it were in my tummy. I don't feel great after that. but it's going to stay down so there's that.

Cash is showing off his trampoline to pretty Chloe

She likes it

He likes it too

I could watch Cash & Tyler play together all day long

Where Yi-yi-yi go?

Don't worry lil guy, we'll see Yi-yi tomorrow.

He gets there's a baby in my tummy but he doesn't get why it's not here to play with yet. 7 months means nothing to him, he wants to bring all the baby things in from the shed now.

i met this girl and called her ma, i called her everything

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:01:51 GMT

Well, I meant to post this last night, but Cash stayed up so late that I was wrecked by the time he fell asleep & totally forgot.

I was really happy with the results of Hell's Kitchen. Overall, I found it a very enjoyable season.

So far SYTYCD is shaping up pretty good! I like how they are making a concerted effort this season to be sure we see everyone in the top 20 before they get there, so it's not like in the past where they announce people in the top 20 who we have never clapped eyes on before.

I had a dvr Toddlers & Tiaras marathon while Cash was napping today. I'm not allowed to watch it when Sean's home, he thinks it's totally disgusting. I agree, but I'm drawn to the train wreck.

I told my DVR to stop recording Glee.

I have been nauseated for the last 2 weeks, almost non-stop. In the afternoons I usually get a break for a few hours. I can't eat much. Whenever something sounds good to me, I eat it, because it happens so rarely. I had spicy pickles and white rice with butter for lunch.

The smell of cooking meat absolutely destroys me. I am fixing to buy Sean a hibachi and make him cook outside.

So in the evening after our trip to Destin Commons a few weeks ago, I had Cash give Sean the book I posted the picture of with the pregnancy tests taped inside. Sean looked at the cover as Cash gave it to him and said "What's this buddy? I'm a big brother...? What the...?" and then he flipped open the cover to see why it was all propped open and saw all the tests. He was happy!

Cash is happy too, if you ask him if he wants to be a big brother or if he wants a baby he says "YYYYY-EAH!" He says he'd like a girl. Or a boy. He's not picky.

We're going bowling tomorrow! Love toddler bowling.

ETA: We had a great time, he bowled a respectable 76. He also won 678 tickets in the arcade! We had a good old time picking out toys, though his wooden train whistle sucks, even blowing as hard as I can I can't hardly get a noise out of it.

Cash stayed at Tyler's house monday while I had my ultrasound, and he did so good! Aside from church, that is the first time he's stayed with anyone aside from daddy for over a year. And he didn't whine or cry once. He asked for me at one point & Ashley told him I'd be back soon and asked why he didn't go play with Tyler's trains. So he did. Easy as pie. I was gone for 2 hours and he didn't fuss at all, ate lunch with Tyler and everything. I was as happy about that as I was about having a healthy bean with heartbeat.

Obviously he helped that he had Yi-yi-yi with him, and that Tyler has trains.

When he sees Tyler, he makes this face

He really really wants to carry the baby

He's showing how big and strong he is. He knows he can do it!

UNGH! HEAVY BABY!

Wheeeee goats!

Or...telephone poles

Cash makes the silliest faces

I'm not sure what is going on here

I think this goat is trying to eat my shirt

Telling us all that the goats are eating.

Goats are funny

Big weird shaggy goat!

I don't know what to think about this guy

The long good bye

Stop fiddling with that bag and hug me!

Big hug!

Bye bye baby!

All alone. Bummer.

This week has been rough, Sean has been working weird hours and coming home late, so Cash hasn't seen enough of him or vice versa and it bums them both out. I'm so sick and tired all the time, I feel like a terrible mommy because I'm not up to running around outside and jumping on the trampoline and all. Cash has been fairly patient with me, all things considered.

I'm hoping we'll make it to Amy's farm this weekend so Mr B can have some horsie rides!

Monday Picture Post: A Very Special Edition

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:35:12 GMT

I have a surprise for daddy!

line up, put your kisses down

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 04:17:45 GMT

We went to Gulf World today! We tried taking Cash last year, but he didn't really get that much out of it. He enjoyed it a lot more this time, plus it was half off for locals and he's free, so it was only $12. Well worth it.

He's enjoying it more than he appears to be here! He just wanted to turn his head to face the sea lion, and I didn't think he'd like a big whiskery, fishy kiss on the lips, so I was trying to keep his face to the camera. And I had to keep his arms down when he wanted to give it a hug too, so I was kind of wresting with him the whole time. But overall he was tickled, he keeps wanting to see the picture and make kissy noises at it.

Like mother, like son!

He loved the dolphin show, he laughed and laughed whenever they jumped out of the water. Though after the "ball on nose" trick, he spent the rest of the show saying "BALL? BALLLLL! BAAAAAALLL!!!! BAALLLLLLLL??!" so I guess he thought that was the best bit.

He was face to window watching the sharks when one of them came up and banged his mouth against the window. Cash was startled and jumped but then he left and started making kissy noises back at the shark. It was cute. He loved the sea turtles, he kept saying "Too-Wah! BIG Too-Wah!"

I think we'll go back before the locals promotion ends.

As a bonus, he actually took a nice long nap too. Only his second of the week.

Yeah, he pretty much has been on a nap strike. He took one for an hour on sunday, then didn't have one monday, tuesday or wednesday. Tuesday especially was rough, I didn't get enough sleep, I was so tired and then I had to work wrangling two year olds for three hours. After work, Cash & I walked down to a burger/sandwich restaurant a few blocks away. We sat on the patio so he could run around, and I figured with the walk and a big lunch (he ate a a whole grown up sized gourmet grilled cheese) and a walk back, he'd be out like a light. No such luck.

And he woke up while I was writing this, so I had to make our breakfast for dinner crepes that is our traditional meal when Sean has a night dive. It was a fun evening, but I am tired tired.

Cash is coming up with new words all the time now, my favorite being "PEASE" for please. I will do just about anything when he asks with a "PEASE?"

Also now says car, ice, card, keys, push, pull, yeah, reads all his numbers and 2/3 of the letters in the alphabet. Read me all the letters off the PLEASE ASK FOR ASSISTANCE sign on the WalMart lobster tank the other day.

Sure do love that baby!

there's a day of your life in your hands

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:03:34 GMT

I hate to say it, but I have almost lost interest in Glee. The last two episodes have alternated between boring and cringingly bad. I shouldn't be surprised, it's not like I'm not used to Ryan Murphy letting me down.

On the other hand, I've finally caught up on season 2 of 90120 and WOW! It's excellent, so far even better than last season. I love it! I tried to watch the new Melrose Place too, but found it too OTT to stomach. I stopped watching the original MP in the last few seasons because it just got too silly and it looks like the new one picks up where those left off.

Having a hard time getting into Survivor this season, but that's more my fault than the show's, I keep trying to watch it at times where it doesn't have my full attention.

Friday we did make it out to Destin for our family fun day. Though when we arrived we had a bit of a crisis as I realized I'd failed to bring Cash any shoes! He doesn't wear shoes at home, so I normally keep both pairs in the car. But we took Sean's car not mine. I went to get him out of the seat, saw his bare feet and realized what I'd done!

We had to go buy him a pair of shoes. Sean used the excuse to buy him some Chucks.

From there we went to Build a Bear where we let Cash choose everything himself. Which is how we have come to own a stuffed Black Lab wearing camo boxer briefs, black high tops & pink sparkly roller skates. His name is Common. I put a leash on his collar and Cash loves pulling him around on his skates.

Then he played in the fountains and we bought hot dogs from the weenie stand after he noticed the giant revolving hot dog on top ("BIG!!!"). Spent some time on the playground, where he apparently got bit by spiders or something, by the time we were ready to leave he had 3 huge red bites that he was scratching at :( Sean got a milkshake from Cold Stone for us to share and we headed home. It was a nice day.

Saturday morning we went for a drive and I did a quick mystery shop at a convenience store. Easy $9!

Cash's allergies were acting up, he was coughing a lot so we didn't want to take him to the Pumpkins in the Park as planned because we figured all the trees there wouldn't help him out any, plus everyone would be worried that he was coughing from something contagious. So we just played at home, had Wendy's for lunch and then he took a nap.

Saturday night after a lot of tricycle riding and trampoline jumping outside, we finished season 3 of Dexter, which was awesome.

Sunday I had training for a new position that I am adding to my work at church, in addition to my tuesday mornings I'll be doing a floor supervisor job one sunday a month. I'm excited about it, it doesn't add much to my paycheck but it does add more experience to my resume for the future and it lets me meet some more parents in my church who I don't know yet. I even got paid for training, which I wasn't expecting.

I'm so happy that I managed to find a part time job that I love, that totally suits my needs and the needs of my family. It may not pay much, but every little bit helps and I can take my child with me so there's no childcare costs or time spent away from him, and it's something I enjoy with all my heart. I'm truly blessed!

Today we had storytime at the Jr Museum which was a lot of fun, and Jessica was there with Drew & Anna Grace, which made both me and Cash happy! We haven't seen them in ages, they've been traveling and then sick and then traveling again. It was fun to catch up. We went to lunch after and the kids had a great time playing in the puddles the rain had left on the playground.

Tomorrow is a work day and then we have a lunch playdate at Nameka's after, so it's going to be jam packed with fun. And I hope Cash takes a nap because I'm going to need a rest after all that!

Cash & daddy playing RC Cars

Saturday Picture Post: Boys on a Train Edition

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:21:56 GMT

Tyler & Cash on the Pier Park Express

now he can do this, do you think that you could?

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:29:42 GMT

Figures, I actually wrote this post last night & LJ was down!

I really need to get my child a punching bag. He gets so frustrated so easily right now, maybe if he had something he was encouraged to hit, he could work some of that out.

I have no idea what he is going to be for Halloween. He is so not into dressing up, he just doesn't want to wear anything that's not his normal clothes. I saw this & thought he might wear it because it's Thomas and not really going to impede his movement

It's actually much shorter than it looks, it only went a bit below Cash's waist. It really was just like a vest. They had it at Toys R Us yesterday, and he liked it, so I put it on him. After about two minutes he started pulling at it and shaking his head no. It's made of foam so it's kind of stiff and the collar probably wasn't very comfy.

I am thinking maybe he can just wear a Thomas t-shirt and jeans and like...a bandana or something. He's just not a costume kind of guy. I can't even get him to keep a hat on for longer than a few seconds.

Actually I have a t-shirt from last year that he could wear, it's orange and says THIS IS MY COSTUME. Ha, that'd be about the right attitude for him.

He does like shoes though

Yesterday we did our usual Books a Million visit, he played nice with the other boy who was there when we arrived and then had the table to himself for about an hour after that, which is how he prefers it!

We went to the toy store instead of Petsmart because of the costume thing & also I wanted to see if there were any lights & sounds engines he doesn't have yet to add to his collection. But I guess he has them all. There's no Duke or Henry or Toby, all of whom he'd certainly like.

I made DIY chicken fajita hot pockets with a side of green beans for the boys' dinner and then went off to Pilates. Ooof I am paying for that today, my abs are killing me.

We watched some more of Dexter season 3 last night, I am especially liking this one.

Today Cash & I went to the mall, I had to drop off our steam cleaner for repairs at Sears and then we met Tyler, Ashley & baby Lily at the arcade. Cash and Tyler had a great game of air hockey, Cash is surprisingly good at it considering his age and inability to really understand the point. Tyler won 7 to 5.

Cash found a game he really loves, he can do everything himself from putting the coins in to pushing the button to make the ball drop to collecting the tickets, he just kept wanting to put more token in because it was so fun to him not to need my help for any part of it. He ended up making almost 200 tickets on that one alone, he hit a few 25 ticket jackpots and one 75 one. In the end he had 449 tickets which the guy rounded up to 450 which enabled him to get one great big bouncy ball filled with glittery pink liquid, two smaller bouncy balls, and a big flat swirly lollipop. WHich he dropped on the floor as soon as we left the arcade, but the owner was nice enough to give us a new one.

We had lunch in the food court, Cash had Sbarro pizza and Tyler had Chick-fil-A, Then I took them boys to ride the rides while Ashley went to feed Lily. They rode the car and the ice cream truck together, then took turns on the Noo-Noo.

I got Cash to leave pretty easily by offering him a trip to go see the trains. They run right by the mall and there's usually at least some cars sitting around. We actually lucked into watching one go across a crossing and then back up through it, so he got plenty of train time which made him happy. The engine even blew its horn at us.

He decided not to nap today, we're about 50/50 on naps these days which doesn't bode well for my future. I neeeed nap time!

Sean was supposed to work late but didn't, so it was a nice surprise to have him home early! We had popcorn shrimp and rice for dinner. I tried to get Cash to try brussels sprouts, I figured they look like balls, he might like them. But he was having none of it.

Sean was supposed to have to go out to Herbie tomorrow but now he's not going and still has the day off. So we might make another stab at Build a Bear and hope the train is running at the Commons this time!

----

Well we may not do that after all, it looks like rain. I'm hoping it'll clear up so we can go. I want to build a bear!

Corn Flaky

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:18:45 GMT

Boy howdy, Cash cutting back on naps has severely cut into my ability to write posts. If I don't do them during the day and just finish at night, they don't get done because by the time he goes to bed it's after 10 and I have too much to catch up on reading to write anything.

Anyone watching the new Survivor?

When does Lost start again?

I love how when Cash & I go outside in the evenings now, he looks up and says "MOOOOON!" then jumps up to try to catch it. Complete with UNGH sound effects. Watching him last night, I got all teary eyed hoping that he never stops believing he can.

He has continued to put the terrible in terrible 2s this week, though not as bad as last week. Thankfully, we have a pretty low key week planned and nowhere we have to be, so it's enabling me to work with him and his moody moods.

We went to Destin saturday, to try to have a nice family day after a rough week. I made the error of promising him a train ride before we got there and found out the train wasn't running due to a car show. Ooops. That kind set the tone, he kept asking for a train, and I kept not delivering. He wasn't thrilled, even when we showed him the fountains he could play in!

We had a gift card for Build a Bear but we couldn't get him interested. He liked one already built dog that had on roller skates, but when i asked him if he waned one like that for himself he said no. Then he crawled under a table and pretty much wanted to hang out there.

We did finally get him into the fountain and he enjoyed that to an extent, but then there was a tantrum involving a water bottle and he had to cut our trip short.

We did stop at PF Chang's for a take out dinner though. Mmmmmmmm!

Saturday evening, after Cash woke up from his nap in a better mood, we really did have a nice time around the house watching football. Cash even said "football" for the first time.

Sunday we went to church and Books a Million for Thomas, I made turkey burger patty melts for dinner, we watched more football and I cursed Drew Brees, my normally totally reliable for a gaxillion points fantasy QB who did NOTHING somehow in a game where they won, scoring 27 points. How he only got 15 points from that I don't know, but I am not happy. I went from 1st place to 5th on the back of that. Thanks Drew!

I've been setting my kitchen timer in the morning and spending 30 minutes on one room of the house every day. It is really make a big difference.

We had a circus themed party here monday, only about 12 kids because lots of people are sick. It was a great time though, everyone had fun and Cash found a 4 year old girl who would play his favorite game with him "chase me and tickle me, please pretty girl" on the trampoline. He liked that.

After the party, he had to sit around naked watching cartoons for a while because that is pretty much what he wants to do after parties here. I don't know why, but it's cute.

Today the big highlight was feeding goats.

Also he pedaled his own tricycle all the way up the block with no help from me. Big boy! Handsome too, no?

Saturday Picture Post: Kindermusik Edition

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:25:07 GMT

Cash didn't think much of Kindermusik, really

The girls in the red dresses are a 2 year old older sister to 1 year old twins. They're 10 months apart. Their mommy is busy.

Unimpressed

I'm too tough for Kindermusik

Too old to be fooled by sock puppet

I like pretty girls though, so I'll hang out

Is it naptime yet?

I'll just get more comfy here...

Wait! What are all these kids doing in my bed?

I'm a spooky red ghost. See how scared mamma is?

Maybe I do it wrong.

There, now is scary?

No, but funny

DOlphin my love, we have been apart too long!

*kissy*kissy*

I is great chess master

Will conquer horses and prawns and stuff

Hmmm

Checkers easier

More like cookies too

And how we end the night :)

...

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:33:08 GMT

Cash has been sick with a cold since tuesday and in whiny miserable terrible-twos/tantrum throwing/ignoring me/being deliberately willful (like I tell him to stop kicking me, so he kicks me again) mode since then as well. This obviously does not do me any good. And coming home from a crappy long day at work to that sort of child and stressed out apparently ineffectual mom doesn't do Sean any good either. Which is how we ended up having an utterly miserable heartbreaking fight tonight & now I don't even know if we're going on our "supposed to be my for birthday/first date we've had since 2007" lunch & shopping trip saturday because I don't really think either of us feels like celebrating anything at the moment.

Anyhow, one of the things I have committed to doing to try to address the problems & issues that were brought up is to spending less time online. I basically am only going to be online, save brief morning email checks, when cash is asleep. So, if you don't see me as frequently as you're used to, that's why.

a phonebook full of accidents, a girl to drive your car

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:34:06 GMT

On saturday when I was backing out of the driveway. Cash said "Mamma! Mamma! Mamma!" I looked back at him and he clasped his hands to his chest then held his arms out to me in a big dramatic gesture. I said "What's that?" and he did it again with a big smile. I said "Are you trying to say you love me?" and he nodded yes real big, then did the gesture again.

So when we got home later, I said "Cash, how do you say 'I love you'?" and instead of doing the sign he just tackled-hugged me. Then I said "Can you tell daddy you love him?" and he gave Sean a great flying tackle-hug. So we kept doing that saturday and sunday because it was cute.

Last night at bedtime I said "How do you tell mamma you love her?" and he flung himself at me in a huge hug and said "LUB!" I said "What? Did you say LOVE?" and he squeezed me harder and said "LUB!" I said "Can you tell daddy you love him?" and he turned around and grabbed Sean around the middle and said "LUB!"

And he's been doing it all day today. I have been waiting for this for sooooo long!

There's 7 nights in the week, why do three things I want to DVR have to be on at the same time?

I need to figure out how to arrange the two DVRs to get 90210, SYTYCD and The Biggest Loser every week. And maybe Melrose Place, if it's worth watching.

Sean has banned me from watching Toddlers & Tiaras when he's home. He thinks it's the most repulsive show he's ever seen, he says it makes his blood pressure go through the roof wanting to throttle these awful stage moms.

On friday I woke up feeling like tiny bricklayers came out in the night and completely walled off my sinuses from the outside world. My head still feels stuffed with cement, it's awful.

We had to wait for the dryer repair guy all morning, thankfully he came kind of in the middle of his allotted window and only took like 15 minutes to fix it.

I had decided to go to the mall after weigh in and see if I could find any better deals at the American Eagle store than I could find online. The rides at the mall are right outside the door of AE, so I told Cash repeatedly that if he was good in the store and stayed where I could see him while I was browsing, he could ride all he wanted afterwards. He was perfect, he stayed right near me, danced to the music on their PA, and told me the mannequins were "BIG!"

They didn't have any better sale in the store and actually one of the shorts in my online cart for $9.95 was $19.95 there. Umm? But then like a fool I found a t-shirt I really liked that isn't online, and the t-s were all buy one get one half off, so I got two and used up $19 of gift card. Yet still wanted $50 of what was in my cart online. So in my effort to save money I spent more. Oh well!

Anyhow, Cash was great, he rode two rides then asked for M&Ms from the candy machine, then was ready to go! No fuss!

Of course it helped that he knew we were meeting his BFF Tyler (Yi-yi-yi!) for lunch, he was motivated to get going.

He was so happy to see his friend and also baby Lily. He pretended to sniff the flower on her headband and then blew on her head. I asked why he was blowing on her and he said "Cupcake!" Apparently he thought she looked like a cupcake today & he was blowing out her candle. Funny boy.

They had a great time playing in the playland after they ate, for some reason Cash lately thinks it's HIGH-larious to sit at the bottom of a slide and wait for one of his friends to slide into him. That just cracks him up!

I needed to go to the grocery store too, but I was just too hot, exhausted and the sinus headache was killing me. So we stopped at Sonic and headed home. Cash crashed out on the way and actually took a 3 hour nap, which was bliss after 2 days of no nap at all!

Ashley gave me some yummy bath stuff and candles for my birthday, so I took a nice hot bath using them & it was lovely.

Sean came home just as Cash woke up, so I left them playing and went to the grocery store.

Saturday we had a birthday party to go to, which was fun. He came home with a blue tongue from the Nemo cake though.

Didn't take a nap, but was surprisingly good tempered in spite of it. We watched football with daddy and ate chinese food. Yum yum yum.

Sunday Cash was good as gold all day, it was amazing. He didn't fuss when I left his sunday school room at church even though two of the other kids cried because they wanted me to stay and play with them! When I got back after the service, he was happily sitting at a table eating his cheerios and coloring me a beautiful picture.

We went to BaM afterwards and he played very nicely with the other kids who were at the train table. When it was time to go, he came without a fuss because he was eager to go see Kissy Bird at Petsmart, Lately the Sun Conure that they have there (who is just the sweetest bird, I wish I wasn't allergic, I'd take him home in 2 seconds) has been eating when we go in & Cash just thinks it's so amusing to wash him crack peanuts and sunflowers and eat them. He could stand there all day!

Cash & Tyler looking at Kissy Bird on a prior Petsmart trip

CAT! CAT!

Watching the doggies get haircuts

Cash is trying to kiss them

Tyler's asking for a doggie

Fighting over who gets to push the baby

I'm doing it!

Looking out for cars

Saying bye bye!

Once we were done looking at all the creatures, he wanted lunch so we went to Sonic and I got him a grilled cheese. He ate it all except for the crusts. Then ate all his apple slices except for the skins.

Took a nap (yay!!!) so Sean and I got Larry's Subs and watched football. I'm in second place in my college pick 'em fantasy and barring anything odd happening tonight, I'll be first in NFL fantasy. Go me!

Today Cash and I hung around the house all morning, then I took him to BK for lunch and playing. It was the outdoor playland, thankfully it has a roof because what was a hot day turned into a big old thunderstorm while we were buying our food! Cash liked the puddles that blew in at the sides though. And I think he may be over his fear of thunder, there were some big thunderclaps and he didn't even flinch.

He'd seen Zoboomafoo eat a banana on teevee this morning and had been asking for one ever since, even though he doesn't usually eat them. SInce they have them at Sonic, I asked when I was getting my drink if he wanted one still. He said yes emphatically. He didn't want his usual tea or juice, no no, just a banana. I asked him several times if he would eat it if I bought him one and he said yes.

When the carhop handed it to me, he just squealed with delight. He sat there clapping his hands and kicking excitedly as I peeled it, then snatched it away from me. Whereupon he held it & admired it for the next five minutes, handed it back to be 100% whole, and fell asleep.

He woke up on the wrong side of the futon though, boy was he in a crummy mood through the evening. To the point where Sean asked me if we're failing as parents. I said I think Cash's biggest trouble is just being two. I spend time with over 10 other 2 year olds every week and Cash seems to definitely fall within the spectrum of normal.

It's definitely been a trying evening though. I hope he wakes up sunny tomorrow!

Saturday Picture Post: Grapy's Motorcycle edition

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:23:11 GMT

Oh my...what have we here?

Grampy's tuck is even cooler than his motorcycle

What? I wasn't putting change in the cd player!

Donkey is still best mode of transport

a visit from your doctor, he crawls in through the door

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:03:15 GMT

My camera is broken, it's awful. I feel like I'm missing an appendage. I hate missing so many cute things in Cash's life every day!

I was trying to find a place to send it for repair, but Sean said based on the estimates I have been getting he'd rather get me a new camera as a birthday gift. Well...twist my arm!

I have a $50 American Eagle birthday card to use, but if I get the 4 things I want it's $67. But if I take the one thing I can live without off it's $48.

I heard a story on the NPR how like the few cents to few dollars that people leave over on gift cards and never use added up to like 3.2 billion dollars in free money for stores last year. I hate to contribute.

What I don't hate is Glee! I love Glee.

I tell you what I am also just loving the #Up series. We have two more to go, I can't wait to finish. Then we'll have to be patient until 2013 for 56 Up.

As a parent of a very young child it's more amazing to me the ways in which the children do not change than the ways in which they do.

Today we went to lunch at Pier Park. I almost canceled the playdate because it was gushing rain and after lunch we were meant to ride the carousel and train. But I decided to just go and hope for the best. It was a long trip in a torrential downpour and I was sorry I hadn;t canceled! But when I arrived, there was a new lady there with her son who would have been all alone if I hadn't showed and convinced Brandi to come too. So I'm glad we did!

We had a nice lunch, as a plus the restaurant was empty so the kids could walk around without bothering anyone. They all got balloons when they came in, so anywhere they were in the place, we could find them by looking for the balloon. Jessica said it was like The Sims with the green diamond over the characters' heads. Funny.

The rain stopped, but Brandi said the carousel had been all closed up, so we decided to go over to Rock It Lanes and use their arcade to burn off the kids' spare energy. It was great fun, Cash won 110 tickets, so we got a tootsie pop, a new keychain and a Chinese yo-yo.

Cash was thrilled with his tootsie pop, almost too excited to eat it, he just kept looking at it saying "BIG!" He's used to Dum Dums so that was truly an impressive lolly.

On the way home, as we were cutting through a residential neighborhood after leaving Sonic, I saw a guy walking along with a parrot on his shoulder. To me, that's not all that remarkable, but I realized Cash would be interested, so I slowed down and pointed him out. Oh my goodness, was Mr B delighted! He clapped and said OOOOH! AHHHHH! and made birdie noises. The guy saw us looking and stepped closer to Cash's window to wave and made the bird bob up and down. Cash waved back wildly and just laughed with sheer amazement that a man had a birdie on his shoulder. Moments like that just help me see the world through his fresh eyes, where little things that are old hat to me are so incredible and new. I love it!

He did not nap today (that's 2 days in a row of no-nap) but wasn't too grumply because of it. Unlike yesterday which was a real bear.

I went to water aerobics, came home, ate leftover Chinese food, watched The Office...all in all it was a lovely day.

Beach baby says "life is beachy"

Cash thinks it's highly entertaining to get into my shirts while I am in them. He sits back there laughing because I can't turn around to get him out!

there's no mistake, i smell that smell

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:21:10 GMT

I have decided sourdough toast with honey butter and a little cayenne pepper is the perfect treat.

So I have watched every week of More to Love for lack of anything better to watch and yet I still was pretty much uninterested and couldn't have told you the names of any of the remaining girls that were in the finale before it started. I was just glad they got rid of Miss Waterworks last week, she was worse than Mary on Age of Love! Do you think they'll do this show again? It doesn't really seem to have caught on.

Cash can say "COLD" now but if you ask him to say hot he just makes blowing noises.

We had 12 two year olds in class this morning, boy do they fill up a room! It's funny how 12 little kids seem the same as 30 grown ups. I guess because they have as much energy as 30 grown ups!

It's also funny how lines of masking tape in the floor can amuse toddlers bored with a room full of toys.

This evening after dinner Cash and I went for a walk down the street. Cash suddenly gasped excitedly, pointed and said "TWO!" I looked up to see a pair of fighter jets flying over. "That's right! Two ...what are those?" I asked, expecting him to say "PLANE". He watched them fly side by side for a moment and then signed "FRIENDS".

He's such a sweetheart.

So yeah, birthday weekend pretty much a fail. I was so sick. I used to get the flu every 4 years on Super Bowl sunday, it was the strangest thing. But '97 was the last time, I have not been even close to that sick since then.

To make matters worse, Sean had to go to Mobile friday, the day I woke up with it, so poor Cash was stuck at home with a mommy who could hardly get up from the sofa. He was so good, I felt awful for him, he didn't understand why I wouldn't play with him, but he was very sweet and patient with me. The only time I got up all day aside from to fix him food and change out dvds was to drive him over to see the trains and get a slush at Sonic because I felt awful that he'd been cooped up indoors watching teevee all day. It was a harrowing journey, just sitting up to drive took everything I had, but he deserved it.

Saturday he woke up and went after the Amazon box that had come from grlykitty the night before. I'd been saving it for my birthday but he was insistent. It's like he knew there was a Shirley Temple movie in there! Thank you so much Gwynn, that was PERFECT timing. On a rainy saturday when I was sick, it was so nice to cuddle up with my baby and watch Curly Top. Watching Shirley Temple on saturday mornings or days I was home sick from school was the hugest treat when I was little. It was wonderful, even though I still felt like death. Cash liked the horsie in the movie.

My actual birthday I still felt miserable, and matters were not helped by Cash waking at 5 and deciding it was time to get up. I actually ended up getting Sean out of bed at 630 and asking him to take Cash out so I could sleep, because I was so tired and sick still I was literally in tears. I just got so frustrated when Cash wouldn't go back to sleep and I didn't want to be angry at him, so I needed Sean to defuse the situation.

It did help, Sean took him out for Starbucks pumpkin bread and a drive and I got an hour's more sleep which made a big difference.

I desperately tried to pull myself together to go to lunch at Beef O'Brady's so we could watch the Saints game. Sean was so not keen on the idea, but went along with it because it was my birthday. Well, I should have listened to him, Cash was in a state having been up since so early and just would not listen or stay in his seat for anything. Sean was tired, short tempered and starting to feel bad himself, and we ended up just getting our food in to go boxes and coming home.

Cash fell asleep, Sean and I got in a fight & he stormed out..it was just all around a rotten day. He did come back quickly and apologize but still, it wasn't enjoyable. I was determined to get some cake into me, he and Cash had got me an Italian cream cupcake as well as a cheesecake and boy did I want some. I let Cash blow out the candles (he is obsessed with blowing out birthday candles since the unbirthday party) which was adorable. But then I couldn't keep the cheesecake in my stomach so that wasn't very nice.

And of course all this time, laundry is piling up, the house is falling to pieces, etc... which didn't help anyone's mood. Sean was trying to keep up, but he's not used to juggling Cash and housework and cooking and all.

That said, Ashley is going to watch Cash weekend after next so Sean and I can have the lunch and shopping date we'd wanted to do this saturday and we're just putting this weekend behind us and going to celebrate then.

Meantime, he has come down with the same thing and is totally miserable. Thankfully I am on the mend so I can keep up with Cash and take care of things. I just hope and pray Cash does not get this. I'm thinking if he didn't get it from me by now, he's golden.

That kid had got a cast iron immune system, let's hear it for mamma's milk!

Pardon my no make-up, but I thought Cash was just so sweet in these. I let him stay up a little late last night because he'd napped until nearly six.

This is at our fantastic arts & crafts playdate yesterday, almost all the kids were sitting on the stage together, so the moms of the 2 or 3 who weren't set them up there too & we got these great shots!

I didn't bring my camera, so I'd asked Brandi to get a lot of pictures of us. She obliged & I just love these...

He decided it was more fun to paint his face & fingers than the picture he was making!

He loooved his red nose, he kept saying NEWS! and giggling

Then this from a few weeks back when he was sitting in baby Lily's Bumbo

Sunday Picture Post: Baby in the Wild Woods edition

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:00:11 GMT

I realize I have been neglecting LJ terribly, but I have been deathly ill since thursday night & am just now starting to almost feel human again.

So let's look at my cute child, shall we?

Setting off on an expedition

He looks disgusted but he's really telling me he sees the bunny, he's wrinkling his nose and making chomping motions with his teeth :)

And what's that over there?

KITTEN!

Kisses for kitty

Dancing

Oooh what's this?

Yay! More animals!

Petting the kitties

Nice kitties

Whose eyes are bluer?

UNGH! Deer is heavy!

Duckie is much more manageable

At least the baby duckies are. These ones less so.

What else can I find to play with?

Oh look!

Shooooooooooce

I see kitty again

Here kitty kitty!

Just gotta rehydrate

I didn't mean you could leave

Time to swing!

Can't swing alone

No one minds if I go for a swim, right?

Ahhh much better!

Come say bye bye to me kitty cat!

*pet*pet*

She kissed me!

Ready for a nap!

outside it's summer, indoors it's cool

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:35:13 GMT

My baby is so sweet.

He has started singing me a bedtime song when I am snuggling him as he goes to sleep. He sings these gurgly gargly nonsense words like GLUB GGGGGLEEEE GRRRRRR GOOOOOO BLAAAAAAAAHHHH GLAAAAAAAAAAW GOOOOOO while he hugs my neck and rocks back and forth, occasionally stopping to kiss me. It's just too adorable for words. Which I guess is why he's not using them, ha ha.

Sunday at church, I worked in his sunday school room with two other ladies. One of them was an older woman who was pretty strict with the kids, not mean but just being really demanding of them considering they were young 2 year olds. She was making each child say a word from the story of the day before she gave them their snack & I was worried that when she got to Cash he wouldn't say anything. He's not just one to spit out a new word when asked to repeat it, especially for a stranger. One holding food he wants, no less.

She got to him and said "Cash, can you say BIBLE?" He looked thoughtful for a moment, then his face lit up, he started to wave bye-bye frantically and said "BULL!"

I cracked up. And she gave him his cheerios.

I have just been worn out this week & haven't had too much to share. I've a headache all day today, so I'm just not feeling vivacious and chatty.

Sean is still working on the car buying,which is stressing us both out, he changed his mind about the Subaru he'd decided on & it looking at a slightly older Subaru Legacy.

We closed on our mortgage refinance today which is going to shave us a lot of money.

Our sunday was a disaster, some friends of Sean's from high school that he has gotten reacquainted with on Facebook were in town and supposed to get in touch with us to meet up after church but before Cash's naptime. We routed our whole day around that & they ended up never calling. It jacked up Cash's schedule & stressed us out for nothing. We didn't hear from them until they got back to GA and then the excuse was just "Oh we got busy"

I was impressed that Sean actually told them what for though, usually he will just let stuff slide because he wants to be a nice guy.

While we were at the beach, on the wooden walkway down to the sand there's a showerhead on a post to get the sand off you before you go back to your car . A girl about 7 was standing under it pulling her swimsuit down unnoticed by her mom who was trying to wrangle two smaller boys (probably 2 and 5). As we got closer, the mom turned around and said all shocked "Oh no no no! Put your suit back on honey!" and the girl shoved her hands down the crotch of the suit and and screamed "NO MOMMMY!!!! I NEED TO WASH OUT MY BUTT AND THERE'S SAND IN MY HOO-HOO!!!!!!!!!"

Everyone around cracked up laughing and the poor mom was mortified. She is going to be telling that one when the girl is a teenager!!

We were supposed to have a date this weekend for my birthday, Ashley was going to watch Cash for a few hours so Sean could take me to Red Lobster for crab legs and the mall for shopping. But now she has to go out of town this weekend about the house they are trying to sell, so I don't know what we're going to do :( I know sunday we're going to go to Beef O'Brady's for dinner so we can watch the Saints on the big screen while Cash watches cartoons on the small tableside one.

I love Glee, so happy it started.

I feel like the new SYTYCD started too soon after the last one ended. I can't really muster up much excitement, I didn't have time to miss it!

Work on tuesday was good, but there were 2 teachers for 12 two year olds so WOW! The daughter of one of my playgroup friends was having a hysterics without mommy thoigh and after a half hour we paged her to come back. So she stayed and helped since we had lunch plans after. That worked out great for us, we really needed that third person! We'd had 4 workers call in sick is why we were so short-handed. It's amazing how many two year olds 12 can feel like, kind of like 36 adults.

Today we celebrated Tyler's first day of school with a trip to BaM and McDOnald's. Cash was pretty excited about it, before we got dressed he was marching around the living room banging his cymbals singing "Yi-yi-yi! Yiiiiii-yi! Yi-yi-yi-yi-yiiiii! Yi-YI! YIIIIIII-YI!!!! BEE-BEE! Yiii-yiii-yi-yi-yi" etc...it was so super cute. He cracks me up.

We had pizza for dinner because Sean & I both were feeling run down and lazy and not like cooking. It was yummy but I ate way too much of it.

Tomorrow is a big animal themed party at Ashley's, I need to ask Cash which is his favorite stuffed toy tomorrow, it changes all the time, hard to keep up.

Do I want to help daddy clear the water plants out of the pond?

Oh boy, do I ever?!

Lemme at 'em!

I got it, daddy!

See! Big boy, big plant

Check me out! Such a good helper!

In the pile....

Next!

He's so proud of himself

Daddy is a good helper too!

SO serious

Ooooh I am strong!

We make a good team, daddy!

Saturday Picture Post:Mr B loves Lilli Edition

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 04:15:13 GMT

Did you know I have a pretty lady friend who is 5?

I'm dancing, she's pretending to be a doggie

She has a friend named Amy

Amy likes to make funny poses for the camera.

I like popsicles.

CHEEEESE!

and it's written all over the face of the daughter

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:18:53 GMT

My grandfather turned 90 today. He is still healthy, just old, frail and hard of hearing. I feel sad for him, he's outlived his siblings, his friends, his wife, one of his two daughters...he's just depressed and waiting to die. I wish we could have gone to Miami to see him, I mean he's turning NINETY. But we just couldn't afford it.

Did I mention I love Glee? I love Glee. Can't wait for next week.

Does Mandy cry every week on More to Love? Has there been any episode in the last month that she hasn't cried?

So tonight in water aerobics, we did a kind of relay with the pool noodles, where when it was your turn, you came up with some move for you & your partner to do. Like she threw the noodle to me and I said "Hold on, I'll pull you" then she threw it to Sarah and she said "Take the other end and we'll spin around". One set of partners are a husband and wife in their late 50s and when the noodle came to the husband, he held it up vertically and said "I'll hold it, you pole dance." Ha ha ha!

My child won 914 tickets at the arcade today. 914! I have never won so many tickets in my life as that. He's only 2! He hit a 500 ticket jackpot on this one game, with absolutely no help from me.

Then as we were trying to decide what to get, this older teen couple (like 18 or 19ish) asked if he wanted their tickets. Wasn't that nice? So he got 500 more. With such riches, he ended up getting a helicopter that flies, a matchbox car, a rainbow slinky, a bouncy ball, and 3 tootsie rolls. Quite a haul.

Sooo tuesday! They did put me in one of the 2 year olds rooms, so Cash wasn't an issue. Which was awesome. Truly working with the 3 & 4 year olds is a lot easier, but logistically speaking it's worth the extra work to not have to worry about a Cash meltdown. And he does pretty much ignore me when I'm there, so I can give all my attention to the other kids. We had a great time, though I did have to put one little boy in time out for pushing, and another one kept stealing everyone else's snacks! Each time I turned around I saw him with someone else's chips or cookies or whatever. He had his own food, but I guess he thought everyone might have something better.

It was a little longer than the previous tuesday because Mom's Morning Out officially ends at noon, where MOPS ends at 11:30. But the time really does fly by, I have a great time with those kids! I really enjoy my job, I'm so glad I went for it and got it.

We had to do a big shop at WalMart after that, which is always tiring. Cash noticed the live lobsters for the first time, so we had to spend a good long time watching them walk around their tank.

I was SO glad he took a nap, for everyone's sake! Sean made him fish sticks and broccoli for dinner and I set off to my big night on the town. It was great, we had 9 ladies come ad the restaurant was very accommodating. Slow service, but super good food. I had blackened shrimp and grits, it was freakin' delicious. The grits were creamy and very spicy, with cheese on top and it was really one awesome meal.

One girl ordered the seared ahi tuna & was shocked to discover that it was raw inside. She didn't realize that seared just meant seared on the outside. She was trying to choke it down even though we all told her to send it back and get something she wanted, she was too embarrassed to. One of the other moms couldn't stand it and actually got up and went off to get the waiter, which of course totally mortified the poor girl. But really, you shouldn't pay $17 for something you don't like, right? They ended up just grilling it all the way through for her and she thought it was delicious.

I had promised to be home by 8, so I pretty much had to eat and run since the service was so slow. I could have stayed, but I didn't want to break my word on my first night out! I came home to find Sean and Cash eating lollipops and watching Shirley Temple in The Littlest Rebel. Quite the wild boy's night in, yeah? They're so cute. They had plenty of fun without me.

Yesterday we went over to play with Yi-yi-yi. We took McDonald's and just like last week, they didn't give us the apples we ordered for our happy meals. I had just called in the morning to complain about last week's mix-up (not only no apples, but cheeseburger instead of mcnuggets in one of the meals) and I had to call again. Apparently I have many McGift cards en route.

The boys played trains and had a great time. Cash snuck a kiss onto baby Lily too. He just loves him some babies!

Sean went out and cut a deal on a car last night, he's getting a 2009 Subaru Impreza, the hatchback model. It's used, but only has like 6000 miles on it & he got a really good deal for a practically new car.

Today we had our playdate at the arcade which was tons of fun. Cash and I played the NASCAR driving game a dozen times, I work the pedals he steers. He loves how the steering wheel shakes when he drives into the walls, so he pretty much does that the whole time.

From a prior visit to the same arcade.

He liked the balloon pit better this time, though he never stays in too long, I think the cold air from the fans bothers him (it does me!)

Bowling with Lilli

Driving the bus with Lilli's brother Quade

And riding the motorcycle

Cash pulled a raw lasagna noodle out of the box today and tried to eat it, Then he repeatedly laid it on the stove saying "PLEEE? PLEEE? PLEEE?" - so kind hearted mom that I am, I made the boy lasagna noodles for dinner. I broke them up and just put garlic butter and cheese on them, mixed in asparagus tips and bacon, it was actually yummy. Filling though, with those thick noodles. He was happy though, he ate the whole bowl!

Today was a no nap day, so I am wore out and need to get to bed. Tomorrow we get to go see a new baby!

Well...

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:39:37 GMT

I was going to post about my fun Mom's Night Out last night (though not as fun as some of the moms, I went home at 7:45, two of them stayed out until 2 am!!!!! Wild mammas!) but I have a crisis of my own making to deal with & I'm too rattled to rabbit on about my days. Nothing serious, I just overshared on Facebook, forgetting my MiL was on there :/

But here's a picture of me before I headed out last night

got a line straight from my heart, was a time it ran to you

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:46:05 GMT

I've switched from being hooked on Farkle on Facebook to being hooked on Yacht. It's harder, but I feel more challenged because of that.

So, Sean was looking at a used Subaru online at http://www.hondaofpanamacity.com/ right? He called them up to ask about it (not mentioning that he'd seen it online) & they said it was over being detailed at the moment. He said he was interested and that he planned to come over later in the day to have a look. When he got there, he saw it sitting front and center, absolutely filthy inside & out and a price stuck on it of $3000 more than the internet price, marked down to $2000 more. So basically after Sean called, they hustled it back from the detail shop, filthy & un-detailed, and slapped a higher price on it because they thought some schmuck was coming to see it and they could "bargain down" to the the price they're already asking for it. Then they claimed that wasn't the case at all, that someone else was interested and coming to look at it. Sean said "Great, tell him he can f*ing have it" and walked off the lot. Good job there, Honda.

I went to the convenience store for coffee saturday morning and saw a display of limited edition Coconut M&Ms. Cash loves coconut lollipops and popsicles, I love coconut in general and we both love M&Ms so I thought I'd give them a go. We broke them out during the football tonight & WOW WOW they are delicious! They taste like candy coated Mounds, but don't have a coconut texture in them.

Even Sean liked them, and he's not a huge coconut fan. We're definitely getting more of those to have on hand for special treats.

The weekend was fine, not much to comment on, just the same old same old. He was really grouchy on saturday because he didn't have a nap, we were oth grouchy, truth be told. It was a bad day for us. Sunday was much better. We fed goats and played with trains and went to church, etc... Cash has been doing great in sunday school, this week he didn't even care when I left & they said he was "perfect" the whole time.

Today Rachael came over to do my roots, my hair looks so nice now between the cut she did a few weeks ago, and the fancy hair conditioner and repair spray she brought me then, and now the color. I need to start trying to wear it down more, a lot of the breakage I am having is just from pinning it up all the time.

Cash & Quade got along okay, it's easier here where Quade isn't getting mad about sharing his own toys. There was one incident, we don't know what happened because the blow drier was on and our view was blocked by the sofa, just out of nowhere we looked up to se Quade sitting on Cash, and poor Cash was howling. I think he was trying to take a car from him or something.

Ah Cash, it just breaks my hearts how sad he gets when one of his friends is mean to him. He is such a kind-hearted boy, I think his feelings are hurt more than anything when stuff like that happens. I'm glad he doesn't hit back, since he's so much bigger, but I still wish there was some way to prevent it.

We were supposed to meet friends at BaM after but it fell through so Cash and I just went to BK and played on the playland, ate some mac & cheese and apples, then went over to the paper mill to watch the trains. We got lucky, there was an engine pushing tanker cars around so we sat and watched for about a half hour. On saturday the same (or an almost identical) engine honked at as when they saw us watching, which made Cash's day.

From an earlier trip to BK

If there's a puddle to be found, he finds it.

There was a huge thunderstorm at 5 am, I was shocked Cash didn't wake up. It woke us up for sure. The result, lots of puddles, provided a fair amount of local entertainment today.

We need to get some Noddy dvds. They've taken it off Sprout on demand, which usually heralds the demise of it being shown on the channel (see: Sagwa). I've resisted thus far because he annoys me, but Cash loves him some Noddy.

I managed to cook leftover chicken strips and corn into pasta tonight, which sounds weird but was actually tasty. I've been trying hard to use up our leftovers these days, I hate when we don't finish something and it just sits in the fridge & goes to waste. Drives me nuts.

Must go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, I work Mom's Morning Out which is 3 hours with 16 3-4 year olds and then I have my own Mom's Night Out tomorrow night! I'm excited about it, but I bet I am pooped by the time I get home (in time for Mr B's bath, of course) and get Cash to bed. Today he napped until almost 6 so naturally didn't go to sleep until 11. I'm tired!

Saturday Picture Post: Swimmy Swimmy Edition

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:18:35 GMT

Swim lessons

And at Frank Brown

rain's gonna come in fair size drips

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 04:55:22 GMT

My MiL is having trouble with Facebook etiquette. It's kind of funny.

Have y'all seen the S'Mores Goldfish? They are the new most popular snack in our house, they're so good! The bag comes with chocolate goldfish, graham cracker goldfish & little Lucky Charms style goldfish marshmallows. Cash thinks they are just the bee's knees, and Sean and I actually really like them too. Yummy!

Also a new thai restaurant opened near here, and that's yummy too. Cash likes shrimp pad thai, as it turns out.

Did I mention the child ate TWELVE fish sticks for dinner the other night? And some asparagus too? He is so going to eat us out of house and home when he's a teenager.

I have just been besieged with sad things this week, I have done a lot of crying. My friend's baby girl is having health problems, a local meth lab blew up and burned a baby over 40% of her body, and a girl I know from a message board posted a link about a girl she'd gone to school with who was kidnapped in 6th grade and recently found again after 18 years. In her post she was all "Oh such a miracle that she's still alive and isn't it wonderful?" so I clicked the link thinking it was a happy story - it so was not. I don't even want to talk about it. I've been upset for days since I read it, but suffice it to say I don't know what would be worse, having my child have been killed or having my child have been kept prisoner under appalling animal-like conditions for 18 years.

So many awful things in the world, it scares me every day. I really don't know what I'd do if anything serious happened to Cash. I'm so grateful that we've never even had to go to the ER yet.

We were supposed to go to the beach yesterday, but it was overcast with a 70% chance of thunderstorms, so we went to the Jr Museum instead. A lot of people came, so it was actually really fun. Our Jr Museum isn't that great, but it's nice to have somewhere indoors that the kids can run and play and have fun when it's wet or cold out.

I did water aerobics last night, for the first time this week. I needed it. If I could just get my eating under control, I'd be in good shape. I don't know where all my self-control went.

Today we went to Y-yi-yi-yi-yi's house and played trains. Baby Lily was wearing a cute headband with a giant flower on it, and Cash had to sniff it. He's so funny, whenever Ashley puts on her nursing cover to feed Lily, he gets all alarmed about where is the baby and is she okay? Ashley always has to lift up the cover for a second to show Cash that she's fine, then he signs "eating" and goes back to what he's doing. He's so sweet, he just loves "Yi-yi-yi's bee-bee"

Here he is walking "Drew's bee-bee", also known as Anna-Grace, his pal Drew's little sister

He's going to be a great big brother, provided God decides that's in the cards!

We watched half of 21 Up tonight. I have been wanting to watch that series for AGES, I just kept forgetting to add it on Netflix. Then I heard Nicholas on NPR and finally remembered. It's such a great idea, I'm totally engaged already, I can't wait to follow them all the way to 49 and beyond.

I am so tired, I'm glad we have a nice slow week coming up. With my very first mommy's night out EVAR, which is am super super expected about!

let's get ready & steady, GO

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:01:47 GMT

Sean went off to Alabama yesterday to get a new car, but the financing didn't work out, so he's on his way home and going back to try again next week.

Though it's going to be frustrating if we go through all this hullabaloo to get him a new vehicle and then he doesn't get the job in FWB! THey sure are taking their sweet time about it, but that's the government for you.

My poor child had got another sty on his right eye. This is the 6th one he's had! The pediatrician and dermatologist say there's nothing that can be done to prevent them, but I wish I could. They don't seem to bother him, but they just look awful.

First day of work went well yesterday, I was with the 3-4 year olds which was a lot of fun and a whole different ballgame to the 2 year olds! They go to the bathroom all by themselves, for a start.

I was reading a story about the birth of Christ to twin sisters and one of them told me, as we paged through the pictures, that not only did she have Jesus in her heart, she also had the angel, Mary, Joseph, the 3 wise men, the donkey Mary rode on and also the camels.

I asked about the sheep and the chickens pictured in the manger scene and she said "Nooooooo" and rolled her eyes at me. Because that would be SILLY, to have sheep and chickens in your heart, right?

It was a good time.

Though, as expected, we ran into trouble on the playground. The 2 year olds were out there when we arrived, so of course Cash wanted to come hang out with me. No problem, I took him over to the bigger kids play area and let him hang out and do what the older boys were doing. When they rounded up the 2 year olds to leave, I herded Cash in with them & got him onto the crocodile rope. He seemed to go willingly, and I was surprised.

However, about 10 minutes later when we brought our own crocodile of kids back, the coordinator was standing in the parking lot waiting for us, holding a screaming Cash.

So he came back to the big kids room with me for snack time and bubbles and playing with blocks. It worked out okay, but the coordinator is going to try to rearrange teachers so I can be in Cash's room. Which would make it easier on all of us. When I'm in his room he totally ignores me, so it's not like the other kids suffer for my having my own child with me, and I know 75% of the 2 year olds already. I don't know why it's such a problematic thing to arrange, she said it might take a few weeks to sort it out. Why they can't just swap me with someone else is beyond me. Maybe they're hoping after a few weeks Cash will get used to it, but I don't really see that happening! Oh well, either way, I do like my new job!

We walked down to The Place for lunch with 6 of our grown up friends and 7 of our little friends, it was quite the tablefull. I have wanted to eat there for ages and it was sure worth the wait. I had crabcake sliders and Cash had a big ol' gooey grilled cheese. We were both quite happy with our meal.

Mr B also drank a ton of my tea, every time the waitress came to the table, he squealed TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! and she was all "Oh, sir? Would you like a refill?" and he would solemnly nod yes.

Probably because of all the tea, he did not nap.

But we had a nice afternoon, we played outside and did GeoTrax for hours, watched Hell's Kitchen together, the usual. He crashed about an hour early and slept until 8. Which was nice for me!

Today we went to a pool party after the dermatologist, our friends Jen, Wolife & Lexie have a great house (with GeoTrax! And 2 huge doggies! And a pool!) it was loads of fun. I drove through Dan-D donuts on my way and got some of their incredible filled donut holes, which everyone was cursing me for because they're irresistibly good and just terrible for you.

Mr B made up for the no nap by taking an almost 4 hour nap today. Which I will pay for at bedtime, I'm sure.

When I put on Wipeout for him tonight, he jumped up on the sofa and screamed BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLS!!!!!!!!

Which was pretty funny.

Sean is still a half hour away, so bathtime is on hold.

Cash likes the Old Navy people. He wanted to make friends.

He wanted this nice lady to take him for a walk

Couldn't figure out why she wasn't going with him

Come on already!

Decided to see if the kids were any more friendly

Passed out hugs to all of them

Letting doggie sniff his hand first, for safety

Telling me the doggie is panting

UNGH! Heavy doggie!

Giving him some pats

Want to play fetch? I has a ball!

We can go for a walk too, if you'd like

FETCH!

falling in love for me is a form of insanity

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:16:58 GMT

Sean watched Watchmen this weekend. I watched the first 30 minutes with him and decided that was plenty, thanks. He finished it (all 3 hours) and deeply wished he hadn't wasted his time. That movie is a total pile of p00p.

We're working our way through the # Up series now.

Today we had a pajama party here to benefit the Great Sprout Tuck-In. It was so fun, the kids all wore their PJs, we had star cookies and Rice Krispie treat moons, we colored pajama pictures and played outside, and everyone brought some new pajamas and a book to donate to kids in foster care. Plus right now Sprout is matching donations, so we actually did double the good.

It's never too young to start teaching one's children about giving to those less fortunate.

We had a busy weekend, Cash & I want to a gymnastics birthday party on saturday which was fun, but they did limit the areas and time the kids could play, and this caused Cash some frustration. After they herded us out of the gym and into the party room, we weren't allowed to go back out and use the equipment anymore, poor Cash kept signing "play" and trying to open the door!

He had a good time though, ate lots of cake and took a nice long nap.

He and daddy had loads of playtime over the weekend, right now Cash is all about playing with daddy, which is lovely. On sunday, while Mr B and I were at church, Sean mopped the floors for me, reconfigured Cash's train tracks and then made a full-on Mexican feast for us, with chicken and beef for tacos (hard or soft), burritos, refried beans, Mexi-corn, and Spanish rice. I was gobsmacked to come home to all that!

Apparently all the good smells were too much for Cash too, because he woke up when I carried him in and that was that. No nap! So on top of all the other nice stuff he'd done, Sean took Cash out for a drive to look for trains and get milkshakes so I could have a little time to relax. He earned bonus pajama points¹ for sure.

Unsurprisingly, Cash fell asleep early. I actually offered Sean an over/under bet on 25 minutes from story time to sleep. He took under but it turned out to be a push in that it was exactly 25 minutes. I'm good!

Mr B did wake up around 0130 with a tummyache though (unsurprising, he ate the house down sunday) so I let him get up and watch an episode of Thomas, which is SOP when he doesn't feel well in the night. He fell back asleep pretty easily after that and woke up feeling fine at 7.

Sean came home during the party and hid, ha ha.

I went out to Sonic after and got burgers for us, which I have been regretting ever since, my stomach feels awful.

Tomorrow is my first day on the job! Super exciting.

A little late, here is the painting Cash made for Sean's father's day gift

The artist at work

Hmmm....not quite

Needs something more

Mmm...yummy paint!

I'll just add this here fin

Perfection!

Sealed with a kiss.

¹When Sean does good stuff around here, he gets pajama points, which are basically a pass to put on pajamas and be lazy during the daytime. There's not an actual tally or anything, it's just a conceptual thing.