Side Shows

This past Saturday night, Ray, my brother Mike and I got the rare opportunity to go out. Ray is a realtor as most of you know and he works on a team. The guy who started the team, Jamie, sings in a bluegrass band called Kickin Grass. And actually, his lovely wife is in the band too. Anyways, they were playing at the Pour House in downtown Raleigh. So we went. The show was great and don't make fun of me for listening to Blue Grass. It's actually grown on me since Ashley refuses to listen to anything other than "Mr. Jamie sing" these days. I think she's his biggest fan.

But, the real show during the concert was the little side show we witnessed. There were couches along the right side of the hall. On one of them was what we thought a happy family there to see another family member play. There were two older ladies (one 40ish, one 50ish), a young boy (probably early teens), and older gentlemen (60ish, let's call him Grandpa), and a girl (probably not much over 21 if she was even that). The "girl" was in a black tank and rhinestone studded jeans. And at first, I was thinking she was a grand daughter as she sat on one of the lady's laps and was joking around. Well...until she totally started making out with Grandpa! Total makeout with some ass grabbing thrown in. We were all in shock. Everyone noticed around us. And I of course looked for a wedding band...she was wearing one, I don't know if he was or not. I guess he was loaded?

Confessions of a Working Mom

1. I have totally crawled into Audrey's crib to try to get her to sleep. Maybe once, or twice.
2. I still help Ashley in the bathroom even though she is totally capable of wiping herself.
3. If Ashley is good at school, she gets to watch a video in the van on the way home (even though it's only 10 minutes).
4. We ran out of apple juice last week, Capri Suns are juice, right?
5. Audrey started drinking whole milk prior to her first birthday.
6. Audrey still goes to sleep to the bottle on most nights. Horrible, I know.
7. And she's not walking. But she would like you to walk her around all.damn.day. Which sometimes we refuse. And she throws a fit.
8. Audrey is not, I repeat, not sleeping through the night. See number 6.
9. Ray and I have been known to argue over who's turn it is to go into Audrey's room in the middle of the night.
10. We let Ashley wear a pretty necklace to school even though she's not supposed to. She just wants to be like me.

Fun Monday - My Blogging Enviroment

This week, Willowtree has the honors of hosting Fun Monday. Go there to see all the participants.



My writing for my blog mostly happens at home. One thing that sold me on the house we bought was this little room. It is off of the kitchen, and the builder built in a desk. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for my scrapbooking room. We made our formal living room Ray's office, so I could finally have some space all to my own.



Most of my blog reading happens at work. You know, on my lunch break and such. And this is here...Have a great Monday! I am home this morning with pink eye Audrey, and at 11:30am I am reading to Ashley's class since it's Dr. Suess' Birthday this week. And then I will go into work. And read some blogs. And do some work.

Friday Pictures, Part II - Old School Pictures

Since everyone liked the last ones, I thought I would once again be the person who cheers you up for the weekend. My twin brother is coming in town. Ashley loves "crazy Uncle Mike". Mainly because he lets her ride on his shoulders all day. And he makes her laugh.

Uncle Mike looking, well, crazy. April 2006

I want to sleep like this...April 2006

Bumbos aren't just for little ones. June 2006

Ray and greasy-forehead in Hawaii. January 2002

Sweet Child of Mine

My sweet, sweet Audrey. You used to be so sweet and easy. And now, well now you're not. When we got home last night, we went outside to the playset since it was still 70 degrees outside. And I promptly put you in your swing. Last fall, you would have stayed in that swing all day. Tonight, you lasted oh about 10 seconds before pointing at the glider to ride on it. Which we did, only for you to want down. And then crawl up the slide. And then slide down head first. And then go up the ladder. And then cry when Mommy wouldn't help you up the slide again. And then cry when we had to go in for dinner.

Not fun, not fun. And dude, if you would just walk on your own, you would definitely be happier. And so would my back.

Our Hotel, I mean Home

First off, my current post at workingmomsblog is up. Go check it out. Now. But there is an update to the stats mentioned. I have now officially lost my Weight Watchers goal of 50 pounds. Seriously. I have lost the amount of a large dog. Or a small child.

So what do you do when you reach your goals? You show people where you were and where you are now:

Before, in August right before I started Weight Watchers...

And after, Ray says it's not my most flattering outfit, and this was taken at 9:30 at night after wrestling the kids to bed...


And you make a new goal - I want to lose ten more pounds. I think I can do it too. Of course, that means I can only eat 20 points a day and considering I ate about 35 points on Monday to celebrate my weight loss, this should work out great. Right?

So these past two weekends we have had house guests. The weekend before last we had friends who are moving here from Northern Virginia (Northern Virginia sucks, everyone flee to North Carolina!). They have a two year old boy and a four year old girl. And those kids were the best behaved children I have ever been around. I think they are secretly drugging them to make them so laid back and happy. The two year old boy? Not once did he get mad and throw a toy. The girl? No whining, nothing. Everyone played nicely. I can't wait for them to move here and hopefully rub off on my kids...

This past weekend we had some more friends from Northern Virginia visit us with their 5 month old. And they too are leaving Virginia, but to go somewhere crazy like Michigan or Ohio or Tennessee. My friend's husband is going back to school to get a doctorate in political science. No, we decided against playing Scrabble or anything with him because he would KICK OUR ASSES. She would too actually. Anyways, we had a great weekend, and a lot of this was consumed on Saturday night:

To include my favorite (hehe):

Oh, and their son? Weighs more than Audrey. My poor light weight. I swear she eats.

Oh right, how I tried to kill Ray. On Saturday morning I tried to play good host and make cinamon muffins. Little did I know they had some sort of tree nuts in it. Ray's lips started to swell, then his throat. He actually ate two of them, so his allergy to whatever was in it was on the milder side. It took about two hours, but the swelling finally went down. Maybe we need to update our life insurance policy....

The Many Faces of Ashley

Concerned Ashley
Happy Ashley
Mad and I'm trying not to laugh Ashley
And a special treat, a rare picture of Mom with the girls and their new scarves knitted by Grandma Fuzzy.

So those pictures of Ashley and all her faces? Those are a good indication of the past week we have had with her. One minute she is happy go-lucky, the next whiny, bratty three year old. And I mean bratty in the nicest of terms. One day Ray didn't even leave the house until almost 9:00 am (Ashley's class starts at 8:45 am) because Ashley was throwing a fit over nothing, over and over and over again. I was home with the kids on Friday and Ashley spent most of the morning in her room for doing something bad. And I hate it. I want to spend as much time as I can with her, but she is so testing our limits right now. For example, we went out to lunch on Saturday. Ashley started to get too loud, and I told her to be a little quieter. That only made her scream louder until I had to threaten and then take her to the car. She is stubborn (just like someone else I know whose name starts with "R" and ends in "Y" and has a "A" somewhere in the middle) and headstrong and all of this is mentally draining. I envy SJ, who has a son who is getting into everything...can we trade for a day??!!

Last night was better though, she seemed to listen a little better, so maybe last week was a phase. Or let's hope it was.

Tomorrow - news on how I almost killed Ray last weekend and my Weight Loss update!

Your Favorite - Fun Monday

Today's Fun Monday challenge was created by Karmyn at Dreaming What Ifs. Her challenge was an object or objects that have a special place in our hearts.

I have two objects, one old and one new. The new one is this - my bassoon. For those of you who don't normally read here, I play in my town's community band. And yes, I was a total band geek in school. At one point in time, I wanted to major in music, but then I came to my senses and realized a) I wasn't that good and b) musicians don't get paid enough. I hope and pray that maybe I can pass this down to Ashley or Audrey to play in band. Music is a huge part of me and I want the same for my kids.

The old is a ring that was my Mom's. I know this is a crappy picture, but it has the birthstones of my Dad, my Mom, me and my brother. My Mom no longer has it because my parents were divorced when I was about 10. The ring doesn't fit any of my fingers, but it stays tucked away in my jewelry box. I would love something like this with the girls' birthstones (HINT HINT Ray, Mother's Day is in May).

Friday Pictures

I know it's Friday, it's been a long week. Some of us have had snow, ice, cold weather. Others have had personal bad luck, sicks kids, or just a plain bad week. So hopefully these will cheer everyone up.

Introducing Aiden, my nephew
The whole fam damily - minus me
I need to blog about how much food my kids eat. Seriously. In this picture, she is finishing off an ENTIRE cinnamon roll. She's not even 13 months old yet. And she gets PISSED OFF if you cut stuff into little pieces. She wants the whole piece to shove in her mouth. See that front tooth on the left (looking at the picture)? That's the discolored one...Oh, and I need to clean her mouth... This is what we pay daycare $1,000 a month for - she can spoon feed herself! See what a great job she's doing!

Don't you love updates?

First off, Aiden and his parents are going home today. Thanks for all the well wishes. His lungs are doing great and hopefully he will thrive at home. I am hoping Ray's brother will email us a picture so I can post it here...

Ashley is doing much better. She had a sinus infection that drugs are helping. The only other concerning thing I found out when I took her to the pediatrician on Tuesday was that she might be asthmatic. We are planning to have her allergy tested soon (Ray is allergic to nuts, pineapples, coconuts, and I can't remember what else) and then we will go from there. And no, Ashley has never had peanut butter, poor kid.

Audrey is a different child since her surgery to put in tubes. Seriously. She isn't cranky in the evenings anymore, she's talking more (if I have to do Row, Row, Row Your Boat with her one more time....), and she is cruising everywhere. We are hoping for our backs sake that she will be walking any day.

Me? Well, school is keeping me busy at night. I have started my classroom observations. I am also studying for the PRAXIS II, a test teachers have to take. I am taking that on April 28. I will need all the support and prayers, I am not a good test taker.

Ray is crazy busy selling houses which is a good thing. And if anyone wants to buy a house in Virginia (Great Location! Close to a Target! It just might take you an hour to go the three miles to get there...) just let us know. We would love to get that monkey off our backs...

Newest Addition to the Family

Sorry, I keep editing this entry...

I have many balls up in the air right now - family, friends, school, work, blogging, band, weight loss, scrapbooking...just to name a few. But the constant ball that has been next to me for the past 10 years is Ray. He's more like a bowling ball...hurts like hell if I drop him on my foot, but he rolls a strike every time with me and my kids. Happy Valentine's Day Ray!

And...

Welcome into the world Aiden Michael, my nephew!
5 pounds, 9 ounces
17.5 inches long

He's visiting the NICU right now because of fluid on his lungs, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Mom and Dad (Ray's brother) are doing well. Crazy woman did it without drugs. I guess every family needs one crazy person...

Valentinr

Get your own valentinr

Because I know all of you wish you were here and could give me a Valentine's Day card, you can do this instead! Go ahead, check it out! That and it will cheer me up, I am at home today with Ashley - fever, runny nose, headache. And I thought January was over...

Fun Monday Post Again!

Marnie is hosting this week's Fun Monday post. Please visit her for all the participants.

This week's challenge? Why we love where we live.

For those of you new here, we moved to Raleigh, North Carolina less than a year ago. Prior to living here, we lived in Northern Virginia, a.k.a. the Rat Race. Seriously, it was. I was leaving my house at 6:00 am to commute 25 miles and it still took me an hour and a half. Here, my commute is about the same, except I leave later and it only takes me 25 minutes.

Quality of life? Check. Less traffic? Check. Great parks, outdoor stuff to do, family friendly? Check. Cheaper houses? Check, check.

We could not have made a better decision than to move here. I will leave you with this picture, it's the state fair at night. Hope everyone has a great Monday! Also, I have added a picture of Jippy's son in the Click on Me Section, it takes you to the charity badge. Go check it out.

Blog is a linking verb

So a couple of weeks ago, there was an article in our local Raleigh newspaper, the News and Observer. It was titled "Blog is a Linking Verb" and was about how area parents find connections through online posts. It highlighted three local bloggers. One of them, The Trixie Update, hasn't been updated in months. Another one, the chick hadn't updated it since prior to Christmas. Then it gave a few examples of blogs to check out, Dooce and Notes from the Trenches. There is nothing wrong with that, but I was looking for more local bloggers. The only one I know is this one.

So I emailed the staff writer that wrote it. She emailed me back in minutes saying how hard it was to find local bloggers and then when she did find some, they didn't want their blog to be made public. Makes sense, I understand. She wished she could have met me prior to the article (I could have been famous!) and would I help them set up something at their site for bloggers of young children? Hell yes!

Of course, I haven't heard anything since. So much for me being famous.

My friend Jippy is trying to raise money. Her son has muliple disorders to include autism and mitochondrial disease. Go here for her blog or here. I have been trying to get the badge to show up in this post, but neither I nor my IT support (Mrs. CPA) can get it to work. It shows up in the preview, but then when I post, it isn't there. Gah.

Anyways, she is trying to raise money for the MAGIK clinic. The MAGIK clinic (Making Aches Go Away In Kids) serves 3,500 patients a year. Go here to read about it.

Southern California is a hell of a long way away from North Carolina, but if I can help one child in his treatment with a pain disorder, then it's worth it.

So go here to see the charity badge. Every little bit helps. And if anyone can help me getting the badge to display, that would be great too!

Ashleyisms

When my Mom was here last weekend, she ordered bathing suits for me and the girls' from Land's End. The box was on our doorstep when we got home, so of course I bring it in and rip into it. Ashley and I both tried on our bathing suits to make sure they fit. This is the one I got and I love it. It actually looks good! I love the skirt though, because my one weak area and the one I am most conscious about is my thighs.

So when Ray got home, I was telling him how HOT I looked in my new bathing suit.

"Seriously, I look HOT."

"That's great, honey."

Then Ashley comes running in the kitchen where we were.

"And Daddy! I look COLD in my bathing suit!"

Is Elmo a Boy or a Girl?

Did you guys know this guy is the voice of Elmo? I had no idea...

Ray and I were watching this show a couple of weeks ago and he was on. What? You don't watch CNBC for fun? Well, neither do I, but Ray is a news junky and likes to fall asleep to the news. Me? I would much rather fall asleep to reruns of What Not to Wear.

A bonus for today, do these two look alike?

Audrey in Pictures

Fun Monday (Again!)

I am totally digging this Fun Monday thing. This week's challenge was presented by Swampy. We are to link to a memorable post. My memorable post is a) pretty recent and b) from someone I read all the time. I tried going through CPA Mom's blog roll and reading new blogs, but in the back of my mind, the one that stuck in my head was this one, by Mrs. CPA.

Why? It just really hit home. I joke about how I always have my camera with me to take pictures, but I don't. I don't have it upstairs in the playroom when Audrey reaches for her sister and Ashley abides and gives her a hug. I don't have it for that first wake up, squinty eye morning face from both my girls. And I don't have it when Ashley is playing with her friend across the street and reaches for her hand to hold. And as she states in her post, "hopefully I can look back and capture the same feeling" as those times I wish I had a camera...

Everyone is okay

It 2:00pm and Audrey has pretty much been asleep since we got home at 9:00am. When she does wake up though, she is pretty cranky. I am hoping when she wakes up for good, she is happier.

The surgery went well. The doctor said her ears were filled with pus and such, basically still completely infected dispite being on antibiotics since December 1. So there is a ton of drainage from her ears.
Everyone at the surgery center was absolutely wonderful except for the very last nurse we saw in recovery. She informed Ray and I that Audrey had so many ear infections since she was in daycare. I attempted to tell her my older daughter was in daycare as well, and only had one ear infection, but she wasn't listening. I kept my cool since Audrey was crying and I was trying to get her to calm down. She did inform me later she has no kids (go figure) so who cares what she said.

What was very helpful was the drug they gave her about 20 minutes prior to taking her back. It pretty much made her calm and relaxed so that when they wheeled her away, she wasn't screaming. It was almost like she was drunk and it was very cute. We were in the waiting area for all of 10 minutes before the doctor came back out. Total time spent at the surgery center? Two hours.

Have a great weekend everyone...Ray and I are actually going out tomorrow night. We are having dinner at a restaurant that actually takes reservations and then seeing "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" at the Raleigh theater. It has received rave reviews, so it better be good because I do not like the movie as much as Ray does...

Snow Day!

They have been calling for a wintry mix all week here in North Carolina. So of course the entire city shuts down with a little teeny tiny bit of snow. No biggie, I get a snow day at home with the kids! Only problem with snow days, I just want to eat and eat and eat. Anyone else like that?

So it has already turned into freezing rain, what fun! Doesn't Ray looked thrilled to be outside?

Tomorrow is Audrey's surgery, I will post pictures and updates when we get home. We have to get up at the butt ass crack of dawn to be there at 6:15am for a 7:45am surgery.