Meet... Mouse???

It all began a couple weeks ago when we discussed getting Lauren a pet fish. Her momma would love a dog (rather, bring ours back home from Nana's house) , but daddy has taught her that dogs poop, and therefore she shouldn't want one. So now whenever we see a dog, she's immediately looking at their trail, searching for poop. Niiiice.

Anyways, with a canine companion outta the question at this point, a quiet and discreet-pooping fish is what we got. So on Sunday, we all headed to Petsmart where we let Lauren pick out the fish. I had hopes she'd pick a pretty Beta. Ya know, the kind with colorful long tails that swish and swoosh as they swim. Instead, she picked the most homely fish of the bunch. He's the color of vomit. No, puke sounds more disgusting. Yes, he's the color of puke. That's what I get for letting a 2 year old pick out our new pet.

After picking him out and buying his supplies, Lauren and the Hubster set up his new home.


It was at this point we asked what his name was. I was thinking "Nemo", "goldie", "fishie" or something along those lines. Nah, not our daughter.

"Mouse", she replied.

"Mouse?", we ask. Surely she wouldn't want to name him something from the vermin family. I'm thinkin' she's mistaken. She's just got her animals mixed up.

"Mousey-Mouse", she replied again.

A fish named Mouse. Alrighty then.


After letting his water sit overnight to become room temp, we moved him into his humble abode and then fed him his dinner:


Since rodent mouse has been in this home, the new "thing" to do is feed him. Seriously, he'd be a whale by now if we allowed her to feed him every time she requested to. For now, he's on a strict "two pellets of food per night" rule. And tonight after her bath, she remembered and asked to feed him his dinner:



His meal was followed by a "good nigh, Mouse!" and a few kisses on his tank. I'm sure there's nothing he'd rather see than some giant puckered lips coming at him in his tank. That positively gave him some very sweet dreams.

Bravery at it's finest

I wrote about the Hubster's cheapness frugality in the last post. I bet you thought I was joking. I wasn't. The good thing about this is that I don't worry about money. Or retirement. Or worry when the phone rings that it's be a bill collector. Nope, the Hubster is a planner and saver, which can be annoying at times, but in all honesty, I secretly like it. There's something very reassuring about being "fiscally fit".

And when the economy tanked, we I got serious and started not only watching what I spent, but re-evaluating some of our monthly expenses. First to go was a weekend meal out. We would routinely go out after church and spend $20 on our family ($80 monthly). Nowadays, we come home and eat and play until naptime. We also switched from Jose the gardener to Justin the gardener. He saves us $80 plus he's cute and available :) After nixing the gardener, we cancelled the cable. This took some time before we actually pulled the plug. But a month into no TV, and we're lovin' every minute of it. We've found some fun alternatives to watching the tube, and lets just say we're not pregnant nor are planning to be :)

So we've been saving a total of $280 for the past couple months and it's become addicting to see what we can save next. With no TV around, you learn to get creative :) The newest money saving task we're doing is where the title for this post comes into play.

I've never cut hair. I used to shave dogs and cats when I was a tech, but somehow that wasn't very reassuring to the Hubster. But the thought of saving an extra $40 a month was enough to convince him to let me cut his hair.


So I pulled out the new clippers and went to work figuring out which was right side up. This made the Hubster second guess his decision:


Then I pulled out the fancy drape. He wasn't buying my attempt to be professional.


Half way through the cutting with an occasional "Ooops!" and "Crap!" muttered from yours truly, he put on his glasses to get a better look.


Lucky for me, his vision isn't perfect :)


After about 30 minutes of shaving, cutting and blending, my husbands' masterpiece of a scalp was complete:


Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Another $20 saved. Score!


Thanks for being a good sport about this babe. I love you, hot stuff :)

First Mother's Day with TWO!

Well, technically I had two last year, but one was in close confines, pummeling and kicking my stomach. Come to think of it, not much has changed...

My Mothers Day has been a wonderful day thus far. Jacob didn't get the memo that it was Mother's Day, and woke us bright and early at 5:45 am. So sweet of him. But the Hubster and I took advantage of the moment and talked and spooned until the other Brownie woke up too.

After some breakfast, Lauren asked to snuggle with me. This never, ever happens as she is so dang busy these days. But she did, probably with a little coaching from daddy in the adjacent room, so I took full advantage of it:


until she began squirming and rolling and playing Pat-a-cake with my face. Fun.

In the midst of the thrashing snuggling she was giving me, out walks the Hubster with a bag. A very unusual bag. A bag so rare that I've only seen it in commercials, never in the Brown home. It came from a Jeweler. Yep, my husband who has been known to tape the soles of his shoe back on, bought me something from a Jeweler. A Jeweler that he doesn't do work for and therefore wouldn't get a discount. Seriously, I musta been a good wife lately, eh?

I open it up and almost cried. Actually, I lied, I did cry. And it wasn't because Miss BusyBody continued to wallop on me. This necklace was so stinkin' pretty and thoughtful. It has a diamond in the center and both kids Birthstones surrounding it.


Plus, the card the Hubster gave me was really touching. If you know Justin, you get that he's not a really sentimental kind of guy. Sure, he melts when Lauren says "I wuv you daddy" and he'll say some pretty mushy things to me when nobody is within an earshot of hearing him, but he's always been sort of sentimentally-challenged. But today was different. Today he gave me a card telling me everything I wanted to hear. It was awesome. Could it be that he really, truly appreciates all I do now since having a whole day last week to care for both kids allll day long?? I think he gets it. Hmm....

The rest of the day has been filled with church, some La Casita grub, and some playing in the backyard with the Brownies. After a family nap, (yes Jacob, that includes you), we'll be heading to the pet store to pick out a fish. Lets hope that they have "pink fishies" because otherwise someone in our family may be having a toddler tantrum right there in the aquatic isle of PetsMart.

And after PetsMart, we'll head to Nuby. It's Mothers Day and I can cry eat if I want to.

Toddler independence + no fashion sense =

Seriously.

It was 70+ degrees out but she insisted on wearing this hat, the brightly colored "pink shurt!", her "click clacks" (play high heels but they're covered) and no pants. Oh so stylish.

And in case you're wondering, yes, that's a dish towel. Blankets are so 2008.

Escaping bears

I awoke this morning to the sounds of a little girl crying. She normally isn't a "crier" in her crib as she will entertain and keep herself occupied for a good 15 minutes before we go get her. So it was pretty unusual for her to be so upset.

I walk into her room and she's visibly upset and shaken. I ask her what's the matter and she says,

"B's (bears) climbing outta Laurnen's crib!"


Those pesky bears, always managing to lift their stuffed, limp heads onto the edge of the crib. Ha!

When I assured her that they weren't climbing out of her crib on their own, she grinned, quite relieved that they were sticking around for more abuse...

First and Second survey

I got this survey from a blogger pal. It's specifically aimed for your "firstborn", but I don't think that's fair so I'll do 'em for both Brownies :)


1. Were you married at the time? Yes, although not even married a full year yet. She was conceived on our honeymoon.
2. What were your reactions? Excited but surprised it happened so soon!
3. How old were you? 25
4. How did you find out you were pregnant? I took a bunch of EPT's. Nine to be exact. Ya know, just in case the first eight were lying.
5. Who did you tell first? The Hubster.
6. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes, and we did. But I knew all along she was a girl. I was 100% positive, I just felt it.
7. Did you deliver early or late? I was induced 2 days early due to High Blood Pressure.
8. Did you have morning sickness? Yes, more like all day sickness though. It was HORRIBLE.
9. What did you crave? Tomatoes and steak.
10. Who irritated you the most? People who kept asking me if I was having twins.
11. What was your first child's sex? Girl.
12. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? I stopped counting after I hit 35 pounds.
13. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Um, HBP and low fluid near the end.
14. Where did you give birth? St. Mary Medical Center.
15. How many hours were you in labor? Approx. 28 hours. It was rough.
16. Who drove you to the hospital? Actually, a friend from work. The hospital was right across the street so Justin met me there and I was induced shortly afterwards.
17. Who watched? The Hubster, nurses, midwife.
18. Was it natural or c-section? Natural.
19. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Ohhh yes. Although it took 10 (yes 10!) attempts to get the epidural in. That's a horror story for another time.
20. How much did your child weigh? 7 lbs. even.
21. Did your child have any complications? She didn't urinate overnight so we had to stay an extra day but all was well.
22. What did you name him/her? Lauren Anne.
23. How old is your first born today? Two years! Where did my baby go? ::sniff sniff::



1. Were you married at the time? Yes, although we were certainly not trying to get pregnant. So blessed we did though :)
2. What were your reactions? Terrified. Scared to death about how I would manage 2 babies 15 months apart. And how I would get through Morning Sickness as it was debilitating with Lauren's pregnancy.
3. How old were you? 26 years
4. How did you find out you were pregnant? I was 4 weeks late but I assumed that because I had only had one period since giving birth to Lauren that I was just "off". But I took the test just to prove I wasn't and a plus sign showed up within seconds.
5. Who did you tell first? The Hubster, then Sarah shortly afterwards. She calmed me down as I was about to have a heart attack.
6. Did you want to find out the sex? No, we didn't want to know but I caved at the Ultrasound. I was 99% sure he was a boy but after looking at the screen, there was no denying he was all boy. Ha!
7. Did you deliver early or late? He was born 3 weeks early. I was 4 cm at my 37 week appt. and went into labor that night.
8. Did you have morning sickness? Yes, but nothing like my first pregnancy, thank God. Seriously, I don't know how I would have coped if it had been as bad. Morning sickness is bad enough but add in a 6 month old baby, and it would have been awful.
9. What did you crave? Coke Slurpees. Had to have one nightly.
10. Who irritated you the most? No one really. I was easier going this time around.
11. What was your second child's sex? Boy
12. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? Not as much as last time, but probably like 30 lbs.
13. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Had PICA at the end.
14. Where did you give birth? St. Mary Medical Center
15. How many hours were you in labor? Approx. 14 hours. But only 3 pushes!
16. Who drove you to the hospital? Myself, the hospital was right across the street from the Doctors office so Justin met me there.
17. Who watched? The Hubster, coach aunt Judith, nurses, midwife
18. Was it natural or c-section? Natural.
19. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Ohhh yes. Although it only took 1 attempt this time!
20. How much did your child weigh? 7 lbs. 14 oz.
21. Did your child have any complications? Nope, thank goodness!
22. What did you name him/her? Jacob Justin
23. How old is your first born today? Ten months! Wow...

Whatta day!

My mom and I have a "thing" for garage sales. I love a good deal and my mom, well, she loves our kids and buys them anything that remotely looks kid friendly. Because of this, our backyard had become one giant playground, brimming with all things Little Tykes.

With plastic, obnoxious-colored "play things" lining every square inch of yard, our sprinklers were getting covered and resulting in very unhappy, dying grass. So together the Hubster and I conjured up an idea and that's what we set out to do yesterday.

First things first, we, err Justin, weedeated (weed ate??) the lawn and tore out the few remaining live pieces of grass:


thus leaving the yard resembling typical backyards here in the good 'ole High Desert:


Then we installed some decorative border before laying the mesh barrier down.


Soon the backyard went from sad, wilting yellow grass:


to a child's dream yard, complete with sand, toys and sun:


After shoveling and wheelbarrowing that 5.5 TONS of playground sand, we did some errands and settled down to a "skaghetti" dinner. Jacob loved his first spaghetti dinner,


so much so that he thought his eye might like to try it too. Ugh.


After hosing wiping the kids off and strippin' them down while getting the bath ready, the Hubster and Brownies had a wrestling match.


Anyways, as you can see from the pictures of our day, we're really classy folk; we dig up grass to lay sand down in the backyard, feed "skeghetti" for dinner sans a bib, and have WWF matches in our skivvies. Add to the fact that there's usually a race car trailer in our driveway, and we're the epitome of high class ;)

Betcha my broom gets more action than yours!

One day I'm going to invent a high chair with some sort of built-in vacuum that catches everything your child throws down from his tray. This includes the classic Cheerio, some petrified bananas, hunks of graham cracker that you use to keep him occupied for 30 seconds while you throw together prepare a nutritious meal for your other child, and a magnetized pink letter.

This of course is only hypothetically speaking... I would never feed my child graham crackers for breakfast. A pink letter perhaps, but never a cracker.

My little man in jams...

There's somethin' about babies in jammies that get me...

Usually a "jammied-up" baby means that they have come straight form the bath, and they probably smell clean and like the Heavenly smelling J&J bedtime lotion. Plus, they look warm and snuggly and ready for a bedtime story. Yes, I get all of that just by looking at a kiddo in jams...


But when that baby is yours, you can't help yourself and end up doing a mini-photo shoot with the worlds most delicious looking little man:


Seriously, is he not the cutest thang you've ever seen?? His first time wearing non-footed pj's and he's suddenly lookin' more and more like a little boy to me. Crap.

But boys can only sit still for too long before they're outta there, which is exactly what happened...


And once upright again, he showed off his lil' Brownie buns,


before giving one of these:


He's cute, cuddly and smells good... dang I heart my little guy!