Brilliant

Am I turning into THAT mom that every drawing my daughter does is brilliant? Bear with me on this, because this is the first time I have noticed her do this.

We paint often at our house. She really enjoys it, and it keeps her hands busy. So she always asks, "what should I paint." This day I told her snow white.

Do you see here. Look for her yellow dress and blue top. She even put the ribbon in her hair, at my request. I didn't realize what she was doing at first. I thought it was pretty cool. This is the first time I have seen her look at something and try to paint what she sees. She's brilliant. What can I say!

(oh and on a side note, she like the card way more than she liked her valentines gift. this princess thing is a real illness.)

I'm totally stealing this from someone who is stealing it.

This is a Meme about my husband and I.

What are your middle names?
My middle name is Louise, and his is James. You can see a lot about us just by looking at our middle names.

How long have you been together?
We have been together since 1999. About this time 10 years ago we were starting to date one another. We have been married for almost 7 years.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
We knew each other a couple of weeks before we started. I pretty much decided he was my boyfriend when I first met him. He is gorgeous, AND he knew my name.

Who asked whom out?
That is hard to say. When I first met him, I asked him to climb with me that weekend. Our first solo date, I think he asked me out. We had a couple of group dates before we went out just us.

How old are each of you?
I'm 33, and he just turned 38.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Before my brother passed away it was my brother by far. He lived with Mr. T. for some time. Now, it is his siblings, but only by default.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
I think money. Money starts into the conversation on how I work part time (but bring home the same amount of money thankyouverymuch). The money conversation turns into who takes care of the kids and who does what on the house. That kind of conversation only really takes place when we are tired and pissy though. I think in reality we both know who does the most in what area.

Did you go to the same school?
No.

Are you from the same home town?
No, I wish.

Who is smarter?
Mr. T. is smarter book wise. He is able to remember stuff. I am more logic smart. I can think of ways to do things that make more sense.

Who is the most sensitive?
Depends. Neither one of us is particularly sensitive.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Some kind of Chinese. it used to be Mexican. We don't really eat out. Mostly, if I am not going to cook, I bring something home from the grocery store.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Malysia. and we went the long way to get there.

Who has the craziest exes?
He is pretty mum about the crazy on the exes. I think it may be me but only by default.

Who has the worst temper?
I hope this doesn't get me in trouble, but him by a LONG shot.

Who does the cooking?
me. I don't like to eat teriyaki and rosemary flavored chicken.

Who is the neat-freak?
depends. I am more orderly but messy. mr. T. is tidier, but is completely disorganized.

Who is more stubborn?
him.

Who hogs the bed?
we have a king size bed.

Who wakes up earlier?
Me. I like getting up early. Not as early as I have been but my natural tendency is to wake up at 730.

Where was your first date?
Vinos.

Who is more jealous?
I don't know. Neither does he.

How long did it take to get serious?
Well, I think once we got together that was pretty much it. I never saw us not together.

Who eats more?
Him.

Who does the laundry?
both of us.

Who's better with the computer?
Me. (geez, am i the dude in this relationship or what.)

Who drives when you are together?
Mr. T. I don't like to drive, and I don't like being told what to do. If I was to drive, then he would tell me what to do.

I'm tired

I have thought for a long time that having your baby cry was the only way to get them to sleep throughout the night. After all, a little crying never really hurt anyone.

I have tried on a couple of occasions to let BabyP cry (all for two or three days in a row). I am not making him scream and ignoring him; I am going to him and telling him he is okay. I sleep right next to him so he knows he hasn't been forgotten. When I don't nurse him, he just wakes up more frequently and gets angry. He doesn't get sad, he gets angry. He stands up and YELLS AT ME. When I pick him up after a long holler, he roots around to nurse. It is so sad. I have a hard time believing that my 23 pound boy is that hungry, but maybe he just needs the comfort that bad.

So I am throwing in the towel. I don't know what we are going to do, but I want to sleep. The last two nights the baby has actually co-slept with me. I would have gotten okay sleep last night had his sister not had some nightmares. I ended up getting up with her because she sounded so awful and daddy didn't move fast enough.

I guess I will read up some more on sleep. I can't help but wonder if Baby P isn't getting his molars. It just seems like we can't get a break. At least he didn't start this until a couple of months ago.

His sister on the other hand, she sounded so sad sleeping by herself in her room. She said "it is scary in here." I crawled into bed and cuddled her until she went to sleep. Poor sweet girl. I don't know what the dreams were, but I don't remember her ever being scared of anything. One time, she didn't want to ride a horse when she was 2, but that is about all I know she has ever been scared of.

sigh... More coffee please.

Little Brothers

Baby P is starting to act like a little brother. My father had a procedure late last week so we have been trying to go see him daily. Baby P was pulling down all sorts of stuff. He was pulling up on his sister, grabbing her crayons, yanking her hair and pulling on her coloring book. I told my dad "this is what I remember little brother's being like."

Baby P is a little Dennis the menace. He was even able to pull some stuff down on himself while he was in his exersaucer. This morning he was eating cheerios out of his sister's helmet. He had snatched it off the table next to his highchair and was dropping cheerios into it before he ate them. He is constantly in the dog bowl. He is a wild wild mess.

Short Stories

Mr. T. had BabyP and was pushing him into her. Baby P was laughing, but Peanut kept saying stop that. Finally she said " how many times do i have to tell ya'll".

Yesterday she ran into the bed with a loud thud. There were tears and she said "That bed is so dangerous."

Belated Love Letter to a 9 month old

Dear Baby P.

I am afraid you are a bit young to be skipping the love letters. I really wanted to this month. Your 9 month milestone rolled around on top of your fathers 38th birthday and a visit from a dear friend. This month was important though, so I at least will make the effort.

You are mobile. You have been in a quasi mobile state for about two months now, but this month, you went bananas. You figured out how to put those long legs behind you and move forward. You also figured out how put those long legs beneath you and move up. You are tall, and proud, and happy to destroy anything in your path. The days of sitting you down and walking away are over. Your fascination with the dog bowl and the lamp beside the couch are overwhelming. Nothing is safe from you. You are on a search and destroy mission. You will even crawl out of the room your father is in to search the hallways. You are shaping up to be much like your sister.

You also received tubes this month. Hopefully this will end the chronic ear infections. You didn't really feel like moving much this last month, which I think is why you have waited so long to actually start crawling. I think, had you felt better you would have crawled like you are today a couple of weeks ago.

I have been thinking a lot about genetics. You are named after my brother, and you have his cow lick on the back of your head. Sometimes, the faces you make remind me so much of your father. I think you also have his eye shape. I think you have my father's ears and round head. You seem to act a bit like your father, very mellow and low key. One of your teachers told me yesterday "he is just so cool." (mind you two of your classmates were having a fit, and you were just staring at them). Your grandmother swears that you have her hands. You are a good mix of both families traits.

It is interesting to me how we can create little people. There is a little bit of me and a little bit of your dad on every square inch of you. It is also sad for me to see you turn into a little person. I didn't really want you to crawl. I wanted you to stay a baby forever. Even though, I knew, that it wasn't possible or even good for it to happen. You will know what I am talking about when you have your last child. Babies are wonderful.

Lots of Love,
your mum

My funny Valentine

My Valentine had a birthday, that happens to be on Valentine's Day. I made those dumplings that I always crave (don't judge), ribs and all the fixin's. I also made him a lot of bread because he really like the bread I make (another reason to love him).

As I was sitting there talking with friends after eating way too much, I looked over at my husband and was overcome with how much I really appreciate him. I don't really say it very often, but I do appreciate him. He makes me laugh, even when I don't want to laugh. He has a good heart and has the greater good in mind with most of his decisions. He is a good cautious balance to my laissez faire attitude.

I love him (even if he does mock my spelling).

MERYL'S! here

I have a friend at work who always writes her friends name with capitol letters. I think Meryl's name deserves capitol letters. As far a peanut is concerned, anything having to do with Meryl deserves capitol letter. Peanut LOVES Meryl. If she isn't here, peanut wants to know where she is. She wants Meryl to help her with stuff. She wants Meryl to read her stories. MERYL MERYL MERYL.

Luckily, Meryl doesn't mind. She has two boys, so a little girl is a nice change of pace for her. Peanut gets along famously with her son. It is great because those two wear each other out.

We have been busy with our company and with someone specials birthday. Actually, I guess we did have a lot with the tubes, birthday dinner and baptism all in one weekend. Tomorrow is presidents day. I may keep the kids out of school and take them for a hike. I wanted to have a picnic, but maybe just eating at a restaurant will be good enough. It is suppose to be chilling tomorrow.

Tubes.

Here are my handsome men preparing for tubes. It went as well as could be expected. He nursed for a good 2 or 3 minutes before he started his crying fit. He cried for a long time.

He had a little fluid behind his ear, but the ear infection was gone. I figured it was because he has been sleeping pretty well.

Last night was okay. I woke up a whole lot of times. Baby P couldn't eat after midnight, so I set the alarm to wake him up at 1145. He woke up before the alarm, so I just nursed him then. He woke up again at 515. We both got up and played toys. I never heard a peep out of him until he
was waking up from the anesthesia.

He had a good day today. Since he is feeling better he has mastered the pulling up and crawling. He hasn't started cruising yet, but he has started taking steps. While he was sick, he quit progressing in his milestones. It seems like now that he is much better, he is more into exploring and getting places. When he was ill he would just sit in one spot and wait for me to come and hug on him. I am so glad he is better.

Happy Valentine's Day

We made the valentine's for Peanut's school. For the message inside, I just wrote down exactly what peanut told me too. I asked her what she wanted to write to XXX, and she recited a string of random words. These were the funniest that I wrote.

Perking Up- and catching up.

Baby P seems to be perking up. I am glad. His nose is running less, so hopefully, this ear infection is clearing up a little. Not to sound too dramatic, but I have been pretty bummed about this whole ear infection thing lately. It doesn't help that I haven't had a decent nights rest in a while. I just feel so powerless over this infection. I feel like I am doing all the right things, but can't seem to get it healed. The poor fellow just seems to be sick more than he is well. It seems like the last 2 months have been hard on him, and that makes me feel really bad. I want my baby to feel better.

He is a different breed than his sister. I would describe peanut as pretty fearless. Baby P isn't so. He has a little more difficulty trusting himself to stand up. He can pull up to his knees to no worries. He acts like he wants to stand, but kinda chickens out when it comes to actually doing it. Wouldn't it be cool if I actually had a cautious kid? He did pull completely up on his own today.

It might also be that this boy is so long. He is completely out of his 12 month clothes. He is starting to grow out of some of the smaller 18 month stuff. It is funny to watch him crawl because it took until this weekend for him to actually get how to move his feet behind him when he is going to crawl. He had one leg that always stayed in front of him in the "indian" position. For about a week or so, he knew he wanted to be on his knees, but couldn't always get his body in front of his legs. Poor unfortunate boy.

It is nice to have my smiling fellow back. I think (hope) he is on the mend. He has a real preference for me now, which makes me smile smile smile. I do a lot for him so I deserve to be the center of his world. He will go to people he doesn't know, but will instantly turn around and look at me. Mr. T. had a hard time holding onto him the other night when I was skating. I would stop for short time only to be accosted by a slobbering boy. Oh it feels so good. He makes me smile.

Peanut has turned into quite the little bike rider. I like how she continues to try and how she gets better at things. It makes me really proud. She rode a little stretch that she rode shortly after she got her bike. Her improvement was remarkable. She only fell once today where she ended up pushing her bike the last time. It was even kind of hilly! She learned to break today. At the park she was acting like a pro watching where she was going and slowing down for the 4 year old behind her. She even got up a little speed making me have to trot to keep up with her.

It is funny how her imagination has kicked into overdrive. She is starting to name everything. Last week, I received a coupon for essentially a free build-a-bear in the mail. When we went and got it she named it "Sally D Cook." She has since gone on to name her brother's dog "raspberry" and had some other crazy names for some of her other animals.

She didn't want to nap this afternoon, so I took her with me on my jog. It was fun. I forgot how much fun it is to just hang out with one kid. I think that may have been part of my sadness this weekend. I feel this overwhelming need to be by myself, but then I also want to spend time with my kids. I think part of it is the powerlessness I feel over BabyP's illness.

It was nice to just go out with peanut today. She is a little person now, which makes going to the toilet or stopping to look at yarn pretty easy. She has opinions on which houses she thinks are nice, and she wants to talk about mundane and weird stuff.

I think maybe I didn't need time alone after all. I just needed to spend time with someone who wanted to know what I thought and I needed to know more about the Disney Princess. Because... It all comes back to them after all.

Someday Soon

Someday soon I will get to sleep all night. Someday.

We went to the doctor for his tubes consult on Thursday. He had a Double ear infection. That means his ear infection had not only not gotten better, but he had also gotten one in the other ear. We are on our fourth antibiotic for the same infection. He will get tubes next Friday. Maybe then I will get some sleep.

He seemed to have perked up today. He was in a good mood all day. We will see how he sleeps tonight. I was a naughty momma and missed his morning nap. We went to the zoo. It was so beautiful that I had a hard time not being outside. This evening we went to a party for one of peanut's classmates at the skating rink. Because Mr. T was there, i got to skate around. I had a good time.

No work on the house this weekend. We messed up and thought we could just walk in and order stainless steal for the back splash behind the stove. I will pick it up on Monday. Mr. T. said he can install it easily throughout the week. I am ready for this little project to be over with. A year is a long time to be working on something.

Can you guys believe this weather? This is what it must feel like to live in southern California. Short Sleeve shirts if February rocks.

Here we go again

Look familiar? We were sent home today from dayschool for, get this, a fever. AFTER, I have been going on and on about how Baby P doesn't get a fever, he got one. Mild, but a fever none the less. He has a raging ear infection in one ear. We have a consult on Thursday for tubes.

It was awful because he fell asleep on me at the doctor's office. How often does a 8 month old fall asleep on their momma? Not often if ever. Poor Bear. I love him so much.

Peanut has been funny lately. She is really into saying why. "oh, you just tore that up" "why?"

or

"You shouldn't do that."
"Why?"
"because it will break"
"why?"

I can see why the why stage is so annoying. I don't mind answering questions that make sense, but when she starts asking me why she is doing something that I don't want her to do... it can be a little tiring. I do love that she is inquisitive. Today they were working on the water tower near our house. I stopped to show her the crane and the men on top. On the way back past it, she tried to show it to her father.

The other day I heard her talking to babyp. "SEEEEEEEEEE babyP that is our new president. SEEEE that is Barack kabama." She was reading People magazine. She melts my heart.

She also told mr. T. today "I know 5 Karens, but only 1 miss D" Miss Karen and Miss D are her teachers.