Did Someone Say Chocolate?

Umm how about we not eat those?

I finally decided to let Daniel try a few cheerios last night. Ha ha, how funny.

"What's this on my tray?!"


"I got YOU!"


"Curious little thing it is..."


"Are you sure I can put it in my mouth?"


"Okay in it goes."


"Okay OUT it goes!"

Smack!

Can somebody please japslap my husband with the gardening bug? Please? I want nice flower beds! He reluctantly follows me outside and reassures me the yard will look better once the grass finishes filling in. Bah that man! I then brought Daniel back inside reassuring HIM that I would be blogging about him today! Why don't men want pretty flowers? I see a doghouse in his future LOL!

Why can't she just paint the egg?

Sarah has the all too famous egg drop project due tomorrow. She's researched it a bit, but hasn't really started it. We'll have to work on it tonight after soccer. School projects suck.

Peek-A-Boo baby!

Here is the picture I was going to post yesterday.



Playing peek-a-boo with a baby is pretty common and we have done our limited fair share of it with Daniel. Yesterday when I got home from work, Doug brought him in our bedroom to sit him up on our bed so I could change and we could chat etc. I took one of Daniel's receiving blankets and was waving the blanket high into the air and letting it land on his face, then yanking it down and yelling "PEEK-A-BOO" at him. He laughed and laughed. We played this for about ten minutes yesterday.

Earlier 'tis morning, while I was getting ready for work, Daniel was on the floor playing and watching me get ready (as he always does). Something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye and when I looked, he had gotten a hold of that receiving blanket from his laundry pile and was covering himself over it with it, then yanking it down quickly. When I realized he was playing Peek-a-boo with me, I started yelling it out to him when he'd pull the blanket down. He was laughing so hard, it was the funniest thing. He kept doing it over and over again. I showed Doug when he got out of the shower, it was the funniest thing he's done in a long time, daddy got some shots of it.

Where is Daniel?!!


PEEK-A-BOO!!


I SEE YOU!


Silly crazy baby we have!

Preacher boy!

*Insert picture here of cute little baby* - had the stupid server not been down. Ghrrrr!

Okay, so we got away for our dinner night out on Saturday. I'm a big chicken shit, so I ordered the same damn thing as I got before. Chicken fettuchini with sun-dried tomatoes. Boring, I know, but it is good. I'm always nervous about ordering something new and being disappointed in it. Doug got a small steak in hopes of saving room for cheesecake. Ha ha. We still ended up taking doggie bags home with our cheesecake in it. Doug god the Godiva chocolate cheesecake while I got the all famous chocolate mousse cheesecake. YUM!

We suffered through a couple of bad soccer games this weekend. Sarah's team got creamed. I was telling a co-worker of mine about it today...it's not that they are "bad" soccer players, it's really almost as if they just don't want to play anymore. Their slowness and attitude out on the field screams out "I hate this game". At one point when the couch was yelling out instructions/encouragement to the girls, his daughter yells back at him "I AM RUNNING". He yelled back "DON'T TALK TO ME, PLAY SOCCER". It's just bad.

I do enjoy the company and chatting of one of the Moms on the team though and she's invivted Sarah over this week to practice with her daughter and a few of her friends. I hope she does call because Sarah reallys needs to make friends and this is a great chance for it! I told Doug what will happen is I'll finally make a friend too and Sarah will quit next year. Oh well, it's for the kids, not me.

Work went by fast today, just the way I like it. Daniel was Mr. Silly Vocal Pants today. His teachers called him a preacher. He's just going through that "LOUD, HIGH PITCH, I'M DISCOVERING MY VOICE" stage. It's tough to listen to sometimes because it sounds like he's almost fussing but he's not. He's just yelling and making noise. I wish I could record it so I could share with you all! I'm sure you'd all LOVE me for that! LOL

No biggie

Well this probably isn't a big deal to any of you out there, but I found my boy child alseep on his tummy today!



He's just over eight months old and has NEVER slept on his tummy yet. I've noticed lately he scoots on his side more and more now to sleep and I had wondered if he may start to flip over. Anyway, I'm mostly blogging about it, so I'll remember when he first started tummy sleeping. Call me silly all ya' want! *grins*

We are looking forward to our date night tomorrow evening! Pathetic that we are, we will probably just go eat and come home. Dallas is an hour's drive away, probably more in the Sat. night traffic, so we really won't have time to see a movie. I would have loved to see Return of the King again! I'll be busy cleaning tomorrow morning, then we'll be off to see Cody's soccer game.

Oh I had interesting conversation at the dinner table tonight with Justin and Sarah. I overheard Sarah ask Justin if he did it yet. He gave her the "shut up" look. She said "oh, never mind, ok, I'll be quiet". Being a mother, I HAD to bite. I said what's going on? Justin quickly says "Nothing". Sarah says "Justin, Mom will probably be excited ya know". (I knew then it WAS about a girl because I've always been excited and supportive of Sarah when she likes a boy) I asked him very casually if it was about a girl. He blushed and nodded "maybe". To shorten the conversation...turns out Justin's kind of got his eye on this girl that only lives a few houses down. Sarah knows her from last year that's why Justin told Sarah about her. Justin says they have a LOT in common and she talks to him, but he keeps forgetting her name. heh, poor kid. I guess that's why he's been going "running" a lot lately. It's in hopes of meeting up with her! I guess I was right about the possible love connection for Justin, I just pegged the wrong girl! lol.

A bit of boredom

This stolen from Emily and stored away for a rainy blog day. Today.

FIRSTS

First job: PT- Lady Footlocker – sales, FT- Law Firm (name withheld) – paralegal/bookkeeper.
First screen name: Felicity
First self-purchased CD:Tape, not a CD- Cyndi Lauper – Girls just wanna have fun and Nena - 99 Red Balloons.
First piercing/tattoo: I got my ears pierced at thirteen. No tattoos. Yuck.
First true love: Everyone thinks they are in love when they are fourteen, but my true TRUE love would of course be my hubby.
First enemy: This is a tough one to remember. I always got into petty arguments with friends when I was younger, but none I could call my enemy. I once made a best friend I had really mad at me by something an old ex told her, she never spoke to me again. We ran into one another a few years ago. It was pretty awkward. I guess she thought I was her enemy.

LASTS
Last big car ride: Depends…my biggest car ride was from Nova Scotia to Texas two and a half years ago. A year ago we drove to San Antonio to visit Sea World. That was about five hours one way pending on traffic. Last kiss: Daniel’s been smacking kisses my way all day. To have one land? That would be my hubby. Last library book checked out: Dr. Phil’s Weight Loss Solution – boring. Last movie seen: Currently watching second season of 24 on DVD. Last movie I saw was Freaky Friday. Last beverage drank:Caffeine free Diet Pepsi, of course. Last food consumed: turnip, brussel sprouts, ham and tossed salad. Ha ha, I know what a combo. I had a great Atkins friendly wrap from Subway for lunch though! Last phone call: To my hubby to let him know Cody was walking his broken bike home instead of walking with me and Justin. Last CD played: A mix CD that Doug made for me when I was still in NS. I play it often in my office at work. Last annoyance: I don’t even have to think about – Sarah was I’m sure. Last pop drank: Again, Caffeine free Diet Pepsi. Last ice cream eaten: Low Carb Breyers Vanilla ice cream. YUMMY!! Last time scolded: Hmmm, does Sarah snotting at me count? Last shirt worn: My hubby’s University camp t-shirt that’s too large and all faded now, but makes a good lazy shirt!

I...
I am: grossly underpaid and usually can be found complaining about something. I want: to be appreciated, respected and loved. I have: everything one would wish for. A loving husband, a nice home, healthy kids and my health. I wish: I could sing like Whitney Houston. Oh. My. I hate: my ex and all the scars that are left from that experience. I fear: dying. I hear: you, but I’m not always listening. I search: for new low-carb foods every time I’m in a store now. I wonder: what I’ll be doing in ten years? Where will I be? I regret: many thing in my life. I was such a screw up. I love: my husband’s sexy legs. I always: want something else. I am not: yet content with my life. Will I ever be? I dance: when I’m alone doing housework. I sing: to Daniel and in the car on the way to work (not well mind you!). I cry: at night.

YES or NO:
You keep a diary: No, just this blog. You like to cook: Not usually. You have a secret you have not shared with anyone: probably so.

DO YOU...?

Have a crush: No.
Want to get married: Not anymore.
Get motion sickness: No.
Think you're a health freak: Gosh no. I have recently cut my carbs, but that’s as freaky as I get.
Current hair color: blonde.
Eye color: blue.
Birthplace: Berwick, Nova Scotia.

FAVORITES

Number: I don’t have one.
Color: Hunter green for items, khaki, white and black for clothes.
Day: Friday.
Month: April.
Songs: Oh please to name one? I like “Someday” by Nickelback and “Why Don’t You & I” by Santana. I also like Creed. I have a lot of old favorites too.
Season: I love Spring time.
Drink: Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi, I used to love whiskey. Ha ha

PREFERENCES

Cuddle or make out: hmmm, how about make out, then cuddle?
Chocolate milk or hot chocolate: chocolate milk.
Milk, dark, or white chocolate: Milk.
Vanilla or chocolate: chocolate

IN THE LAST 24 HRS, HAVE YOU...

Cried? No.
Helped someone? Yes.
Bought something? Yes, I shopped last night for some food and I just picked up my birth control!
Gotten sick? No.
Gone to the movies? No.
Said 'I love you'?: Hmm I don’t think so, my bad!
Written a real letter: Not in the last 24 hours, but I have written two this month. I did do a long email to family today.
Talked to an ex?: No.
Missed an ex?: God NO.
Written in a journal?: No. Only blogged.
Had a serious talk?: No.
Missed someone? Yes.
Hugged someone? Yes.

Name four bad habits you have:
- I complain too much. - I spend too much time on the computer. - I snack all the time. - I pick at my tooth.

Name four things that you wish you had:
- my dream computer room furniture. - TiVo - Bedroom set - a new oven/stove

Name four scents you love:
- orange - skin musk - lemon/lime - fruit

Name four things you'd never wear:
- bell bottoms - underwear that looks like shorts (maiden?? I think) - a pointy bra. - cowboy boots.

Name four things you have done today:
- Went to work. - Ran the dishwasher. - Washed Daniel’s clothes. - Watched Karate Kid II with the kids.

Name four of your favorite things to do:
- Sleep - Sleep - Sleep - Sleep - ok, ok, I also like being alone with my hubby just being a couple, I like watching all the critters in my house grow and change and I enjoy some quiet computer time.

Name the last 4 things you have bought:
- groceries. - birth control pills. - hat and sandals for Daniel. - candle.

Name four things you regularly drink: (not counting water)
- pop. - I used to drink iced tea. - I used to drink orange juice. - I used to drink chocolate milk.

Irritated and unsettled these days

Sometimes I think I need a private blog. There are days where I just want to be a cranky 'ole bitch. I know I've been dealing with PMS'y swings this week, but it's also been a crappy week at work. I just don't feel I can talk freely about my job and work related issues here. You just never know who's stumbled across this site and is lurking. Deep down I wouldn't care who read this blog from work because I don't really talk about confidential things here that would ever get me fired. I just sometimes wish I had a place to write down my thoughts when I'm pissed off.

Doug ended up taking the kids for the team pictures. Daniel, Justin and I headed to Walmart to pick me up some food. That's the thing about eating differently then the rest of your family, I run out of stuff at different times than they do. I didnt' have anything tonight that I felt like eating. It's tough sometimes planning out meals and/or cooking different things. Last night I made sweet and sour ribs and I have to say they are my most favorite thing! The kids really LOVE them too.

We were glad to see Matt get voted off American Idol last night. Good riddens goofball. I'm shocked to hear so many women over at MT actually thought he was cute and adorable. Wow. My fav is LaToya. Diana is a good singer, but I'm not fussy about her personality so far. Something quirky about her speaking voice that nags me. Oh well moving on...

Date night

Hubby calls me at work today and asks me if I am sitting down. I don't know about y'all, but don't start a conversation like that with me because I immediately think the worse! He quickly added "it's good news, don't worry". I assured him it wasn't quite quick enough, I still gulped my heart back down my throat. Anyway, turns out that there is another Professor's Night Out coming up this weekend, which means the two middle kids get to be dropped off at 5 p.m. and picked up by 11 p.m. for a free night of babysitting for me and hubby! They always have games, movies and snacks there for the kids to do all night and our kiddos LOVE going.

So the surprise was Doug had arranged with his Mom to come down for the evening to babysit Justin and Daniel (the too young and too old to go siblings), so that means CHEESECAKE FACTORY HERE I COME!!!...again. Heh. Alone two times in one week!!! How strangely odd after months of doing nothing. Now I have to decide what I'm going to eat this time! I am definetly having that chocolate mousse cheesecake. Oh.My.God. YUM!

We also need to decide if we are going to go anywhere else. I think a lot of stuff that we were interested in is closed Sat. evenings, I'm not sure though. I'd like to get more fresh stuff at the Farm Market just because that place rocks, but who knows what we'll do, we don't have a ton of time, we may just eat and drive back!

Picture night for the soccer teams tonight. There's another $15 bucks down the drain per team I'm sure! Will someone come over and cook for me tonight? I have so NOT felt like cooking at all this week. What are you having for supper?

Grumble

I wish I could talk about my job here. I sometimes really hate it and wish I could vent off. I'm sure hubby thinks it's old news by now.

Whether you work or not, don't you just hate being treated like shit! Ghrrr. Stupid.

Not much happened today, both kiddos had soccer practice. Justin may have made a "love connection" during practice. LOL More on that later. Sarah showed her lazy butt again during practice today. I made some great low carb lemon bars. I sort of over did it on the cream cheese glaze though, so I need to scrap some of that off, but they are good!

Spring Fun

Here's my big boy sitting in my computer chair sportin' his new fisherman's hat!



While I was out shopping on my birthday, I mentioned getting Daniel a new hat and sandals. Doug and I were back and forth on what size sandals to get him, I was leaning towards the 6-12 months and Doug said we better get the 12-24 months. We got the bigger size, thank god because his feet are chunkier than what I was picturing. As it is, I have to keep these sandals pretty loose because they pinch his skin otherwise. Chunk monster!!



Doesn't he look all grown up sitting there like that. I told Doug he looks like he's about a year and a half old, not just 8 months old. WAAAAH! His first birthday is just around the corner. I guess I'll have to start making plans soon. We're not huge on big birthday parties around here, it's more about a family outing and cake and ice-cream, so I'm not sure what we'll do yet. It's always hard too when you have split families because if you have a birthday party, it makes it awkward to invite everyone.

I slept until almost noon tis morning. T'was lovely! Doug even came back in with Daniel to nap. He hardly ever does that, but we were both wiped out from all our running around lately. I took two days vacation and feel like I only got one. Our audit starts at work tomorrow. Sigh. It'll be a long week there as well. Gotta run to put the ham in the oven. Yum! (I hope).

This is what happens when...

you give my hubby a week off...see all the fur on his face? Lazy bum! Hehe.



So, we managed to get things cleaned up and ready for Doug's Dad and step-mom to come over and watch Daniel. We headed over to Dallas and decided on the way to stop at a steak house for lunch. I had oven roasted chicken and a salad. YUM. While we were there we overhead the group over at another table discussing a theft with the manager. Apparently, someone from the table right behind them must have snatched her wallet, took out the cards and money, then put her wallet back. Crazy. They had about 6 of them at this particular table. It was pretty crowded when we had arrived, so I guess that was easy to do. They knew who did it too because after the ordered, within about ten minutes, they demanded their food to go right away. Geesh.

Then we went to the Dallas Farm Market. HUGE and a ton of great looking produce. We bought corn, brussel sprouts, strawberries and apples. They also had a huge area filled with flowers, shrubs, trees etc. just like a nursery. I was in my glory while my hubby looked bored to tears. LOL.

From there we went to the Dallas Aqarium where they got to charge us $12 a person to get in and $3 for parking. God. That's fine though, we're all for supporting the place, I just found it to be a bit expensive. It was a nice place and had quite a bit of freaky stuff to look at and we landed just in time to see them feed the penguins which was a treat. They are cute!

We checked out West End Market which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Doug said last time he was there it was a pretty happening place. It was dead in there and it looked like many merchants had left the mall. So we drove over to the Galleria Mall to shop a bit. I got Daniel a new hat (pictured later) and new sandals. I got myself a yummy scented candel from The White Barn Candle Co. (new - ginger lime). I really like it. I also got some Atkins bake mix on sale for $8 (which is $4 off) and some Atkins ketchup to try. That was the extent of my Galleria Mall shopping. The mall itself looked pretty shitty because of all the renovations that were being done.

We headed over to the Cheesecake Factory. We were pretty lucky and got a table with only about a 30 min. wait. I had decided to treat myself to carb nasty food. I had a piece of bread and fettuchini with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes. YUMMY! It came on a huge plate, I couldn't finish it all. I also had a strawberry magarita that was pretty good. I had guessed two or three of those probably would have put me under the table considering I don't drink anymore.

After supper Doug ordered the chocolate mousse cheesecake and I couldn't resist the carrot cake with cream cheese icing. I'm a sucker for it, but after tasting Doug's cheesecake, I quickly half regretted my choice. I MUST GO BACK SOON for cheesecake! We took doggie bags home with our dessert in it. I thought I was going to throw up I ate so much!

All in all, it was a good day. I got some new makeup, a teddy bear pin, some money, flowers delivered to the house from work, lots of cards, fancy shampoo/conditioner/style gel from Doug's Mom's salon to try (which was Doug's idea to his Mom, wasn't that great?!!), plus I think there is an open offer for a new NICE shower head from Doug (he knows I always curse our showerhead even though it's new. It's just not big enough, I don't want to be cold in the shower!). I think we are hoping to do something similiar for Doug's birthday in May. It's nice to get away from the kids once in awhile.

Speaking of kids, they had a great campout and Daniel was an angel for the other grandparents, so everything went great. Oh I almost forgot, when we got home, Doug's father had completely cleaned out our garage!!! AND CLEANED MY FREAKING WINDOWS! He even took down the storm windows and did them. I think we need him babysitting more often! LOL

More shopping, geesh.

After my last blog entry, we headed over to Ton's to eat for lunch that day. While over there we decided to look around at some walkers for Daniel. After two stops, we ended up at Burlington Coat Factory where they had quite a large selection to chose from. After much testing and trying out, we picked the Kolcraft Tiny Steps 2 in1 Walker.



After he outgrows it, the seat removes to transform into a walk behind toy PLUS the musical mini maestro can be removed to open up a snack tray and also to be played with. It cost a little more, but we picked it for two reasons. One - the height adjustment. A lot of the other models didn't have a height adjustment on them and two - it'll last the longest because of the option to remove the seat. We're pretty happy with it and as you can see, so is Daniel!

We were pretty tired when we got home, but we had to turn around and head right back out for both soccer practices at 5:30. When we got home it was bath, bottle and bed time for Daniel. After that, Doug and I crashed on the couch to watch a couple more episodes of 24. I got NO CLEANING done, so I knew I'd have to crack the whip in the morning. His parents were due to arrive at noon. Yikes.

Two days off!!

I have today and tomorrow off work. Hurray! The camp out tomorrow still looks like it's on for the older kids. We've made arrangements for the grandparents to come down and watch Daniel. I guess we're just going to run around Dallas, probably get killed in traffic while we're at it. I think we might eat at the Cheesecake Factory. I've never been there before, but Doug has. Anyone else eat there?

As promised earlier, here's a picture of Daniel in his Ultrasaucer. I think Mrs. Reading was curious about it. Once you see it, you'll recognize what it is because I've posted pictures of Daniel in it before!



He's definitely used to seeing the camera flashing around here and we've noticed lately that he really hams it up. He was pretty excited this day and I just happened to have gotten a silly picture of him with a crazed look on his face. I thought it was comical.



The kids have soccer practice tonight. It's supposed to be 82 out today. Beautiful weather! I talked to mom last night and they just got another snow storm. ICK. Our tree that just got trimmed a couple of weeks ago is now full with it's leaves again. Amazes me how quickly things bloom and grow in the spring. That's why it's my favorite season. I will plant more stuff outside this year , but I lost some flowers last year to frost, so I think I'll wait a little while longer. That will also give my dear hubby time to put RAIN GUTTERS on the house. *insert cheesy grin to hubby here* He is so dreading that project and I soooo WANT them. The rain ruins my flower beds every year! Anyone else ever put up gutters? How hard is it? Expensive? *insert bribe here to answer correctly as to not scare my hubby away from actually doing it*

Well I'm off to eat breakfast. Speaking of eating. A friend of mine at work left a birthday card and a whole box of Russell Stover low carb peanut butter cups on my desk yesterday! Yum!

Summer shopping!

I've been putting it off and putting it off...I finally went summer clothes shopping for Daniel.


I got all sorts of little comfy onsies for him for summer. One of the outfits even comes with a little hat that is simply adorable on him! It took me a little longer picking stuff out because I started out in the size 12 mos section, had everything in my basket, THEN realized, shit, I should buy the next size up because it'll be summer here for the next 6-7 months at least! So, I put mostly everything back and wandered over to the size 18 mos rack. There is something a little freaky about buying that size for an 8 month old!

I also got Daniel three new toys.



We've been feeling the pain since losing our jolly jumper! I wanted to find him something new that made some new sounds for amusement. Here he is playing with his little laptop toy.



I got all those outfits (15 outfits, 1 spring jacket) and the three new toys for $90.00! It averages about $4/outfit when you less the cost of the toys. Not too shabby. I also found a really neat little car walker made by Safety 1st, but they wanted 32.99 for it (second hand), so I had Doug do some checking around online and discovered that walkers run at $25-$30 new, so we decided to find him one. I really think it'll give him something new to do and we really don't have anything to worry about with having a walker because we have no stairs in the house. =)

We also got a shot of Daniel laughing his head off at his sister yesterday. It was so funny! I think she was pretty happy about it too because it's usually Justin who gets him laughing like that.



She was jumping back and forth at him making peek-a-boo noises at him and he was laughing so hard and so loud, I just had to get a picture.

MSN troubles

I haven't been able to log into MSN from home for a few months. Drove me nuts. MSN support was pretty helpful to me though and gave me some easy to follow instructions. It actually didn't work at first, so I took the instructions one step further and completely cleaned out everything in my computer that contained "MSN" in it. Wooot, it worked. Not that I really spend any amount of time chatting on MSN, it just annoys the hell out of me when something that used to work stops working for no apparent reason!

Anyway for all you mommies or other, in case you want to add me (now that it's working again)- MSN - feli0726@hotmail.com AIM - Felicity0726. Be aware though, that if I appear like I'm online, but I don't answer, I am either AFK or I'm busy at work and can't answer. *wink*

Cody's coach just called a minute ago. Thank shit he did too because Doug has thought all week that Cody's game was in one place (45 mins. away), turns out it's just around the corner (10-15 mins. away) AND it's been re-scheduled till noon too so that means if they do hold the games, I'll be able to see Cody's game now too! His and Sarah's were both scheduled for 9 a.m. tomorrow, so I would have had to miss Cody's so I could take Sarah to hers. GAH what the hell were we thinking on having them BOTH in soccer?! Well I'm not praying for cancellations now, but we're pretty sure the rain will postpone the games anyway.

In other kid news, Justin did pretty well at his track meet yesterday coming in 5th place for the 800'! He was pretty happy about that. He got his ribbon today. =D Track is a good thing for him. I'm glad he has it! Next year will be interesting though. Football. Oh my.

Sorry kiddos,

but Mama is praying for soccer games to be cancelled tomorrow! Somehow the thought of leaving at 8:00 a.m. just doesn't appeal to me on a Saturday morning. I don't even leave that early for work! Big rainstorm is heading our way though, should hit a bit after midnight making the fields nice and shitty! Aren't I awful!??

Bye bye jumper, my friend =(

My baby outgrew his jolly jumper! Waaaaaaaaaah! Doug had to pull it down yesterday because Daniel was swinging a foot in all directions causing it to jump around. Not safe anymore. He needs new toys. He doesn't like his bouncy chair anymore, can't use his jumper anymore and his jungle gyms aren't safe anymore either because he can pull them down on top of himself. That leaves his UltraSaucer. It's tough at his age because there isn't much out there. In a few months, there's tons. Oh well. I'm sending Daddy out today to find something for the poor child!

Will ya look at this silly dog? I swear she'll sleep anywhere. She always sleeps on the foot of this chair and it's so funny looking. Doug got this shot today.



I had to go to a meeting with a few of Justin's teachers at school today to discuss his "attitude" in class lately. I don't feel like typing the whole story out right now. Short of it is he's fourteen, almost fifteen and is finally starting to act like he's 14. He gets peer acceptance when he shows defiance. It's actually refreshing to see Justin beginning to care what his friends think of him. Don't get me wrong, the child still got grounded BUT I'm relieved to see social progress. For anyone new to my blog, Justin has Asberger's Syndrome (autism spectrum, mild end, social disorder is a large part of this syndrome, therefore even bad progress is good progress!).

On the birthday front, looks like we got our wish anyway. The OTHER parents called and offered to take the kids OVERNIGHT next Friday, so now we'll have even more babysitting opportunities and considering we seldom ever get any alone time, so this rocks! Now what to do...we could always go see Return of the King again...I'm sure we'll eat somewhere. We haven't had dinner together in forever. I guess I'll have to decide ahead of time if I'll be blowing my low carb diet out the window during that meal or will I be good? hmm... decisions decisions...I guess we could always invite Humbaba and B over for BEEEEEER...ha ha. Hmmm I wonder just how far Humbaba would go for beer? LOL!

Birthday Plans

or lack thereof...

While Doug and I were out walking the other night, we discussed the possibility of having one of his parents maybe take the older kids over night or something for my birthday. I'm not really sure what we'd do, we talked about maybe going into Dallas or something. His Step Mom called today and said they had been doing some thinking about what to do for my birthday next week and they thought they'd come down and babysit for us! Not exactly what we were talking about, but still we didn't even have to ask, she offered. Now to start thinking about what to do.

Doug knows I don't really like birthdays much. Sure it's an excuse for presents, but I'm already spoiled, so I don't even know what I want. I think birthdays is too much pressure, sort of like Valentines Day. It makes you feel like you have to make the day special for that person some how and I'm horrible at coming up with ideas, so I usually struggle with birthdays. The kids are easy mind you, I'm talking adult birthdays not kids.

It's tough when you don't drink and don't have a circle of social friends. What do you do? I'll never forget that time when the kids were all at Professor's Night Out and Doug and I were driving around at 9:10 p.m. yawning and looking at our watches wondering if we should go pick them up yet. We had until 11 p.m., but we picked them up early because we had NOTHING to do on a Friday night. Crazy.

Doug was home with Daniel today and he got a couple of pictures I thought I'd share. Here is one of my two babies snuggling with each other as usual.



Here is Daniel looking a bit bewildered because his soother dropped sooo far away. You can see he was hoping to reach it, but sigh...too far. Sillie baby.

Obsessed!

Anyone else out there obsessed with buying baby food. If I get down to 20 jars, I think he's running out. I went out today and picked him up some baby food. I found myself buying two of this, two of that, I realized after I got home, it's really ridiculous actually.



I'm guessing over 80 jars of food in there. How much do you keep in stock for your baby? Am I obsessed with buying baby food or is this what you do too? As soon as I can get him used to texture in foods, I'll start blending up our suppers. At only seven months old though, there are just some things we eat that he just can't eat yet, so it'll probably be at least another two months before that starts happening regularly.

I also have to introduce a breakfast to him soon. Not much to choose from for his age. Jarred cereals I guess as he won't eat the dry cereal anymore. How much does your baby usually eat? On a normal day, Daniel will eat 2 jars for lunch and 2-3 jars for supper. I've seen him polish off 4 full jars of food a few times for supper. I was like crap Daniel, where are you putting it. He always lets me know when he's still hungry because if I stop putting it in, he coughs and grunts at me with his mouth open. Very comical!!

A few firsts

This weekend went by too fast! I hate that. Makes me feel like I need a day off. Yesterday Cody was supposed to have his first game of soccer. We drove all the way to the fields just to be met by his coach telling us they cancelled all the games today and he "just" found out about it. Apparently the fields were too wet and they supposedly posted it on the website. Doug checked later and it wasn't posted, but oh well, it gave us an excuse to go to out to eat at our favorite restaurant "Ton's Mongolian Grill". This was the first time I have went out to eat since starting Atkins, so it was a challenge to pass on the noodles! This restaurant is actually listed on a low-carb site for best restaurants. Obviously it's because it has meat and veggies, everything starts raw and you add the sauces, so basically you control the carb intake. I probably had too much of a helping, but still I'm proud for NOT having any noodles!

After we ate, Doug dropped me off at home for a nice quiet afternoon while he took the kids to their normal Saturday stops. Daniel slept for a couple of hours and I had done a bunch of housework the day before, so I lounged. It was nice. I did vacuum and change around the computer room before he got home, so I still managed to sweat like a pig before the day was over.

Daniel's been pretty good lately at trying to mimick us and this recent one is adorable! I've always kissed him a ton since he was born (obviously eh!) and he's been watching me lately, so I've made a big deal over kissing him or blowing kisses at him and just generally showing him how to kiss...well my little guy is now puckering up. It's sooo cute to watch him as he struggles getting his lips in place, most times it ends up looking like he's sucking in his bottom lip, then after a few minutes of struggles, you hear a little "smack". LOL So cute! I'm very proud! Here's the closest shot I could get of the pucker...



I also found out yesterday that my hair dresser is gone! That is almost traumatic for me. I knew she had moved to Dallas because of her husband's job, but she had reassured me and all of her clients that she was keeping her business where it was at and she'd commute three days a week at least because clients were hard to come by...blah blah blah. I called today to get an appt. for Sarah and they say "oh she's no longer here anymore". WAAAAAAAAAH! I HATE looking for a new hairdresser. I'm so glad I just got mine cut a few weeks ago. Geesh.

So Sarah played her first soccer game today. Doug got a couple of shots of Sarah in action:
She is in the yellow/blue...closest girl running towards the girl with the ball.


Here you can see she's number 23. I don't think she came anywhere near the ball that particular time, but she was gearing up for a good run LOL.


After the game was over, the teams all lined up for the typical "good game" run by handshake, but what I didn't know we were supposed to do is the parents all join hands at the end of the lines so their kiddos can run under them while they all get cheered for. I thought it was neat, we'll know next time to do that!



I think the funniest thing that pretty much summed up the whole game was...Sarah comes running up to us right after the above handshaking, still a bit winded from all her running around....and says "Phew...the game is over Mom". I said "yup, it's time to go home". She says "yeah...*pant pant*, who won?"
*insert me smacking my own forehead here* I don't think that child had a clue the entire game. I'm betting she just ran when she thought she was supposed to run LOL. Poor girl. She had fun though, that's what matters.

All sorts of teethin' goin' on

Not much to say about today. Doug did take Cody to the dentist to have his cap fixed, but the dentist felt that Cody's tooth would hold up just fine. It's actually firm now and his molar is just under it anyway and will be coming through. I'm not sure if I've ever talked about Cody's dental issues here or not, but for those that don't know, I'll go ahead and talk about it again.

When Cody's baby teeth came in, it wasn't long before they started turning color and breaking apart. By the time he was 3-4 years old, he was sent to a specialist. He eventually had surgery to fix his problems. They pulled five teeth, rebuilt a few of his mushy molars and capped all but two of his teeth. Poor little guy.

The specialist asked a lot of questions about Cody's history including all about my pregnancy. What we discovered was when I was about six months along, I got really sick with ear and sinus infection. I had spiked a pretty bad fever and had to go to the hospital out patients where I was put on antibiotics. Well apparently the fever I had actually interrupted the development process of Cody's teeth causing soft enamel. The dentist could poke his pik right into Cody's molars, they were that soft.

Now I don't claim that information to absolutely 100% what caused it because obviously I'm only passing on what was told to me as to why my kid's teeth were so bad. Well this dentist today checked Cody's tooth and feels it'll last just fine and because Doug takes him in every six months for checkups, he feels okay with just leaving it and keeping an eye on it. I find it strange that the tooth would all of a sudden be hard again (well not all of a sudden, obviously it's been capped for five years, but you know what I mean).

So, Sarah comes home from school..."guess what Mom". "What Sarah?" "oh never mind, you won't want to know my news!" "Sarah...WHAT?" *giggles* "My tooth fell out at school!" "okay you're right, I don't want to know about it."

I've raised the kids to know that I don't want to know or SEE their loose teeth. It's creeps me out and makes me want to gag. I remember once a long time ago, Sarah actually pulled out a tooth. I said "Sarah, was it loose?" "Not really" "Why did you pull it out?" "I need money". Good lord!

My queasiness with loose teeth comes from a very long time ago in my childhood....

I want to say I was six? We lived in Ontario at the time. We were visiting neighbors and for some odd reason I had pushed a lawn mower from the back porch and it rolled down this hill. I got into a bit of trouble for it and was told to go get it and bring it back up. Well I could HARDLY push the dang thing. I pushed and pushed as hard as I could, my hands slipped and I banged my mouth into the mower's handle, knocking my bottom tooth loose. It hurt so bad. I remember running to the bathroom so I could look in the mirror and when I did, my mouth was all full of blood. From that point on, loose teeth and me have never got along!

So my kids know not to be wiggling any teeth my way. It just grosses me out!! They think it's great because they know they'll get a buck for every tooth they lose, that's the only reason Sarah is excited about it. Anything beats doing chores for money! Silly girl. =)

So between Cody's dental problems, Sarah's tooth falling out, my broken tooth hurting and Daniel teething, I've had about all the teething crap I can take this week!

Talkin' it up

It's half way through sixth grade for Sarah and I swear she gets and makes more phone calls than I do! Doug says eventually when it gets bad enough, the kids will get their own lines. Those kids are spoiled. I couldn't imagine it when I was a kid to get my own line. What total heaven for a fifteen year old. Most of my teen life I spent grounded for one thing or the other *laughs*. ooo I was bad! Sassy!

Today again sucked at work, but I'm going to have to figure out how to work through those issues. I need to stay at this job because it works for us and I'm good at it. I've been privately tossing the idea around in my head about taking some classes, but who knows. With my education (or lack thereof), I probably wouldn't even qualify to take any college courses. Sigh. I feel pretty stupid sometimes and I can just imagine what kind of entrance exam they have. Bah.

I went walking again tonight. I'm sitting here sweating like a pig again. It's muggy out though, some sort of warm front came through today. I think it's supposed to rain pretty heavy tomorrow. Justin qualified for the 800 in track, so he got issued his bag and sweats for the first track meet which is tomorrow. We've heard ALL ABOUT IT FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS. Want to count how many times he's told me he eats at a "b" lunch time instead of his normal "d". *laughs* Poor kid. I hope he does well tomorrow. He's always so happy when he does!

Cody gets his cap fixed tomorrow morning at the dentist. Brave child I have! Well my baby child is behind me making all sorts of noises and demands. He knows it's bath time and mommy is stalling!!! Night all.

Once upon a tree...

Doug decided to get our tree trimmed. It took apprx. 4 weeks or longer to actually go from initial contact, to estimate, to actual appointment. Really a royal pain in the arse.

Cody's cap fell off his tooth last night, so we couldn't make a dentist appt. 'tis morning because these tree trimmers were supposed to show up then. Let's just say I got home at 3:00 and they had been here for about an hour. Late I'd say!

Here's a before shot that Doug took.



I came home to a pile of branches all over the lawn. I think when I thought of "tree trimming", I pictured a few branches here and there. Well they really give the tree a whole overall. Doug says the tree really needs it and it prolongs the life of the tree. It's just going to look kind of bare and crappy for awhile. I couldn't help but think the trimmers were getting saw happy all over my tree!! Ghrrr.



When Cody got home from school and saw what they were doing, he ran to his room crying because he figured they were cutting all the branches off that enables him to climb that tree. We didn't figure it would actually upset one of the kids. There's poor Doug on his way to teach a workshop, I had given him grief and the child was in the hallway crying his eyes out over it. He just shoke his head saying "Like I wanted to spend three hundred dollars to upset everyone, I just wanted to prolong the life of the tree". Poor guy LOL.

Cody managed to get up the tree after the guys were all done, so he was a happy child once again!



Me? Well I'll get over it and if my tree don't look like this...



ever again, I'll do what every good American would do....sue! *insert cheesy grin*

Night night baby

I should be doing something productive, but bah. Doug had a lab tonight, so that's where him and Justin are right now. I cleaned up the kitchen, started the kids bathroom, bathed Daniel and got him in bed, I just finished eating (leftovers, ick) and now I'm just blah. Oh and wonderful, I just opened my yummy vanilla low carb yogurt and it just splattered up my blouse. Sigh.

Daniel has been growing himself out of being snuggled and rocked before bedtime. His night routine has always been the same since I brought him home from the hospital. Bath, bottle, snuggle/rock and bed. Normally what really happens is he falls asleep while finishing his bottle, so I don't normally rock him for too long, but I do take advantage of a sleepy cuddly baby and I sometimes hold him for 20-30 minutes just in my arms while I surf blogs etc.

Well lately, he either is still full from supper and refuses his bottle (like tonight) or he'll drink some of his bottle, then wiggle and squirm against being held. So, I've been popping him down in his crib, kisses good night and that child goes out like a light. I'm kind of bragging and kind of complaining about it. I miss our snuggle time. Oh well the doctor has always suggested laying a baby down when sleepy as opposed to rocking. Makes for a better sleeper in the long run.

Today while at work, I was feeding the baby, he reached for the spoon, snatched it right out of my hand and fed himself. It was the funniest thing. It's really the first time ever that he's shown an interest in feeding himself. I mean geesh, he's not even holding his own bottle yet. (speaking of which, Nan Jan says the Avent bottles are harder for them to hold, anyone else experience this?) So, I filled the spoon up a few more times for him and handed him the spoon and in it went, all by himself. Very cute!

For fun, here is Daniel and Dexter having a moment!



That's Cody's friend in the background. He was over to play Gamecube afterschool.