The good, the bad and the ridiculously cute

The good:


FancyPants didn't nap (and that's definitely not the good part), but she did manage to leave the curtains attached, the paint unscathed and the carpet intact. Not too shabby. I thought "rest time" went over pretty well until I saw this...

The bad:


Uh huh, the remnants of a book. But not just any book. A library book... that I might have had to pay for. Needless to say, we had a pretty serious talk about ripping books and she said she was "sowwy". After making her help me tape the pages back together, we headed to the library. She then apologized to the clerk for "wipping your book" and promised not to rip anymore or else they wouldn't let us "share" their books.

::sigh::

But the cute? This conversation that took place yesterday:

Lauren: "Mommy, I gonna make a list for Nanny".
Me: "You are? What's it going to say?"
Lauren: "It not say anything. It not have a face!".

Duh mom!

Poor things have no toys to play with...

so they have to play with boxes.


Poor, poor pitiful things.... really, they're neglected! Someone call the authorities.

Pics from this morning

Cute, I know... but not as cute as what Lauren uttered this morning:

"mommy, when I was a little boy, I had a guinea pig".

Yeah, ya know, back when she had a penis.

::giggle::

Midday cuteness....

comin' your way...



:o)

There is a reason...

I have been so stinkin' tired and worn out and overwhelmed the past few weeks. It's called motherhood.

Seriously.

Lemme start with Lauren. Miss Idon'twanttoamissasinglething has decided that she will no longer rest her eyes like the other millions of 2 1/2 years olds in this world. For about a month now, she isn't napping. At all. I have tried everything possible to get her to sleep from wearing her little heart out (Pump It Up, park, swimming, play dates, library... you name it, I did it) to bribing her with an Elmo snippet after her nap. She simply isn't tired.

So instead of losing my ever-lovin' mind, I have told her that if she chooses not to nap, she at least needs to stay in her room and have some quiet time while Jacob naps. This buys me an hour or so of Brownie-free time.... time that I literally need to recharge. And normally after the two hours is up, I go in there to a room that is slightly different than the way it was when she lied down... usually a few books are on the floor or tossed on her bed.

Today though???


Yeah, the toddler tornado came through and almost every article of clothing and books and stuffed animals were strewn about her room.

Holy Moly. And that's the least colorful word I can come up with ;)

As for Jacob, I think it's quite possible that this kid took a few years off of my life a couple days ago. Okay, so the Hubster lied Jacob down for bed at 7 pm. I was in the next room over, reading Lauren her bedtime story. I had the nerve(!) to cover her up with blanket that wasn't pink and she proceeded to wail and complain at the indignity of it all. And as she was screeching, we hear Jacob start to cry too. He stops literally withing 2 minutes, so we figured he was woken up by loud mouth sister and subsequently put himself back to sleep.


Like I do every night, I went in to check on him before the Hubster and I headed to bed. I open up the door and see this lump on the floor, right in front of the hope chest:


I know it can't be the cat, because she won't stay in there long enough. When Jacob is sleeping, his breathing sounds like the approach of a freight train. You need earplugs to sleep in the vicinity of Jacob.

Anyway, I lean in closer and realize it's BruiserBoy himself. He climbed out of his crib and fell 3 feet down to the floor. We wake him up and I am convinced he's dying from head trauma right before my very eyes. So while I comfort and soothe, the Hubster simultaneously calls the pedi and consults the good ole' google doctor. The advice? Stop the bleeding (which he didn't have), keep him up and watch him for an hour, and bring him to the ER if he gets listless, incoherent, etc...

Within an hour, DareDevil child was back to his old self. He drank his weights worth of chocolate milk, he "vrroooomed" his car around the house, and inhaled a couple lbs. of Honey Nut cheerios. I don't think he's ever been so happy to be woken up at 11 pm in his entire life.


Ahhhh, being a parent is not for the faint of heart. If they don't kill ya', they will make you nuts stronger.

Accountable

Have you ever had one of those days when you just don't feel "right"? Like you know you can (and should) be doing more, but you aren't? Well, the past few weeks for me have been like that. I just feel so unproductive and unmotivated both in my lifestyle (diet and exercise) and faith.

In fact, I've gained about 5 lbs. back. And I'm afraid if I don't figure out what's going on, that number will continue to grow. It's like I've given up on being healthy all together. I haven't been watching what I eat (hello, 5 cheese pizza for lunch) and I'm continually finding excuses to get out of exercise. I think if I were to run right now, my heart may give out.

As for my faith, I'm struggling. I've been praying a lot lately and asking God to guide and direct me. I haven't felt Him near and I'm getting antsy. Perhaps I need a healthy dose of patience, but I am incredibly impatient and waiting for more than a few days sounds like sheer torture to me. Really.

I feel lost.

For the past few weeks, I find myself just sitting and browsing the 'net. For an hour (or two!) while the kids nap. Super unproductive, and yet, I can't stop aimlessly searching for the next thing to buy or the next trip to take or the next movie to watch. I want to be doing more worthwhile things, I just feel like I have no direction. And obviously, doing all of those are easy ways to feel whatever void I'm trying to fill. And I don't want to be like this.

So I'm gonna ask you to pray for me. Pray that God shows me where He wants me, and that He leads me to a life where the ultimate goal isn't to please myself any longer. I want to have a purpose, in addition to being the best mommy and wife I can be. And while we're all (hopefully!)praying, I'm going to work on the lifestyle part. I'm going to stop focusing on the number on the scale and focus more about the way my body feels. It won't be easy but I know I need this in order to live a healthy lifestyle and set a good example for my french fry lovin' kids.

This wasn't a fun post to make, but I feel like I need to be accountable and let you all know that despite my weight loss, I'm human and still struggle daily. And I could use some prayers :)

A campin' we will go....

The Hubster, Brownies and I went to Wrightwood this past weekend with my mom, my aunt Cat and aunt Judith. You know, because I’m stupid it's good, wholesome, inexpensive, family fun. Or at least that's what I tell myself.


The Hubster had fun camping (complete with his flannel, redneck jacket),
the Brownies had a blast getting grimy camping,

and my mom and aunts even enjoyed holding the babies 24/7 camping.


Me? Notsomuch. I'm still unpacking the 5000 lbs. of stuff we took with us just to survive overnight. I'm still disinfecting myself of sand and other germy camp stuff that found it's way onto my scalp. And the layers of dirt that now permanently reside under my fingernails.


But I faked it and pretended I was having the time of my life. Because really, using porta potties, sleeping on the ground and sustaining on hot dogs and beans is fun. Right???


And to think the Hubster wants to do it again. Soon. I better get used to this whole "roughin' it" thang.

Mommy, you can run but you can't hide!

The Hubster reads to Jacob and I read to Lauren every.single.night. She is insistent upon mommy "weading to me" during bedtime. And normally I like reading her bedtime stories, but tonight I wanted to read to Jacob for a change and then veg out (Jacob's story time is significantly shorter so I would have time to relax before Justin gets done). Anyway, I tell Lauren that after mommy's done reading to Jacob, I'm going to go exercise (she's used to me being gone a couple nights a week when I did boot camp) and I tell her daddy is going to read instead.

She seems okay with this so after I get done reading to Jacob, I come out and relax on the sofa. And then I hear Justin say,

"Remember? Mommy went to exercise".

Followed by:

"I want to see mommy's car".

Uh oh.

So then the garage door opens, they check to see if my car is there and Lauren exclaims "mommy's car is here!"

Within seconds, Lauren is out of her daddy's arms and she's searching for me.

"Mommy, are you???" she shouts, and I can hear her yell this in every room, her voice getting louder as she's inching near. Not wanting to be caught, I crept on the floor between the chaise lounge and couch. Lauren runs around the corner, sees my feet sticking out and shouts "Mommy, whatchu doing?!?"

I was caught. BY MY TWO YEAR OLD.



This kid is too smart for her own good.

Harvard, here she comes!

Beach Day!

I suppose we're not "true" Californians because the Hubster and I aren't really beach people. I like the smell of the beach, the way it looks and the way it sounds... but I don't care for the way it feels. I'm not really a fan of the sand and the sun and I are enemies. Not a good combo...

But now that the Brownies are older, the Hubster and I decided to brave the SoCal elements and go to Huntington Beach today. It was every bit of messy as I expected, but the kids had fun and we had fun watching them have fun :)


And after we were all beached out, we headed to the pier.


After a lunch at BJ's, where both Brownies inhaled their burgers and fries, we went to a Gelato creamery... ya' know, to round out such a healthy meal :)


Awesome day... I'm thinkin' the Hubster may be taking off more beach days :)