Park fun and other stuff

We went to the park today. Here is some of the fun that K had.











The baby wasn't as impressed


We had an overcast day


all that playing really wore K out.




other stuff~
I got a speeding ticket. The cop was a jerk about the carseats. I understand the need to make sure car seats are safe but I believe in this case he went a bit overboard. I have written to the sherriff's department requesting some information and based on that information, I may go to my court date. My carseats are new, properly installed and not past their useful dates. I had my kids properly fastened in and the car seats are in excellent working order. I was not beligerent to the officer either. Although, I really wanted to scream for all the frustration he caused. I was speeding, although I do not believe I was going as fast as he said I was. Whatever~ :eyeroll:

The girls are doing good. We have been enjoying the mild weather and spending hours and hours outside.

K is potty training and is doing very well. Funniest thing. She pooped in her potty last night and wanted to show me and daddy so she wrapped the poop in her underwear, brought it into the livingroom and dropped it into my unsuspecting hand. Ewwww. But you gotta love her logic.

I have been 1 week with only 1 cigarrette. I got one from my brother when he was here. The day I got my ticket.

My friend stopped over last weekend. The baby really loves him.


That's it for now. Gotta go be mom again...

Saturday

Well our day went ok. K refused to get her haircut and threw an enormous fit in the middle of the salon. O got her ears pierced and only cried for a couple minutes. K did not want to get hers done...until we got almost home then she decided she wanted "pretties" like her sister. AYE! Needless to say we did not turn back around. She will just have to wait.

K and I went for a short walk today. I wanted to go longer but K did not feel like being outside. So we went home. I think she and O are getting sick.

I ended up getting about 1/2 inch off my length. I just needed a trim. I also got some exercise pants and some shirts. The shirts were $1 each and the pants were $5. Not too shabby.

My parents took K and all of us to McDonalds. K had a blast in the playplace. She was playing with some little boys. She is such a bossy little thing too.

Anyway I am off for the rest of the day. I have a headache

6 miles!!!

Yesterday the girls and I walked over 6 miles. We walked from our end of town all the way to the other side. The girls were really good other than Livy getting a bit fussy the last mile or so.

Today we are getting haircuts and maybe getting the kids' ears pierced. I have always wanted to get Kait's ear pierced but I wasn't sure how she would react. I will probably get hers done first and then Livy. But we'll see. I have to buy all the other stuff we need first so we can just get them done and get outta there.

200th post

We walked to McDonald's today, the girls and I. We had fun. We ate lunch, I fed the baby and then we headed back. McDonald's is about 2 miles from our house. Then we took Daddy for a walk tonight too. We got about 1 mile in with Daddy before his knees started to ache. Tommorrow is another beautiful day so we will get out again. Next week it is supposed to be cold, rainy and/or snowing everyday so we will not get out much if at all. It is really great to get outside with the kids. They enjoy it and I enjoy the exercise. Hooooray for spring!!!!

My darling 2 year old, K

oh has she turned into a little stinker! She has started taking her clothes and her diaper off and pooping everywhere put the toilet. UGH! She does it when I am feeding her sister or when we put her in her room for the night. She plays in it. It is DISGUSTING! I am about to my wits end with her. I have had a to clean her carpet every other day for the last week. My mom said it was maybe because she needed more attention so I took time every night before bed to play with her in her room. I also took time out of every day for just her. Didn't matter. Tried putting her potty in her room. Didn't matter. I think she is forcing herself to poop so she can do this. You see, K is somewhat lactose intolerant. She can handle dairy stuff but in moderation. She has always, since she was about 5 months old, only pooped every other day, like clockwork. I don't know why but that is how she was. Now all of a sudden she is pooping 2-3 times a day, each day. I won't go into details but suffice it to say the poop has changed and that leads me to believe she is making herself do it. For example, she did not poop last night at all but I fixed her. I took an older pair of PJs that were given to us and cut the feet off them. I put them on her backwards so she could not unzip them. Try as she might, she could not get them off and gave up. She did not poop. Hmmmmm...coincidence?!?

There are other little things she has learned to do. Turn down the thermostat. Turn off the thermostat. Climb the gate at the bottom of the stairs. Open the fridge and move everything around or help herself to a soda (which she cannot get open....yet). Get into my pantry and tear the labels of vegetables (I started marking the tops of all my cans with what is in the can. Not fun to open a can of tomatoes and green chiles when you wanted corn...not a fun guessing game!)

I think parenting a 2 year old is mostly about being creative and trying to outsmart her. She is too damn smart. I am glad to have a smart child but she figured out all my childproofing already and can even open a bottle of "childproof" medicine. Ones that I sometimes have a hard time opening!

Good morning!!

All is well here. The concert is Saturday and I am pschyed!! Took the girls to a birthday party last night for a bit. They both had fun. hubby enjoyed his quiet time. We are going to take the girls to the Easter Bunny on Saturday. We are off to run errands today.

Scared and more

My mom has a lump in her stomach. Dad told me today. Mom did not want me to know. As much as we sometimes argue, she is my mom and I love her. I am scared. I PRAY that she does not have cancer. I pray it is just a benign mass. She is going in next week to get some tests done.

O is teething and she is by far worse than K ever was. K would pop 2 teeth through without so much as a whimper. O hasn't even popped any yet and is whiny and just awful. AYE! It was a long night last night.

My parents took the kids for a few hours today. K went sledding and BEGGED to spend the night at my parents' house, so we let her. It gives up a little bit of peace and gives her some much needed time away from the house and the whininess that is a teething baby.

My hubby got a raise. Makes life a little easier.

My ol' reliable finally went kaput! My bissell carpet shampooer has died. I freecycled it to a lady that runs a daycare. She said they would try to fix it. Good riddance! I talked Hubby into buying a Bissell proheat steam cleaner. I am in LOVE!! I cleaned the whole house today and it smells fantastic. The carpets look like new again. It was a good deal for $160. I clean carpets every other month in the whole house and do the kitchen (yes, I have a STUPID carpeted kitchen. The dumbest idea EVER!!!) every month. Just in rental fees alone for getting one every other month would come to almost $200. So even if the new one only lasts 18 months, I saved money!! I love have a carpet shampooer. My house doesn't feel clean unless my carpets are clean as well, probably because of the kitchen.

Hubby and I went out for a burger and a beer today while the kids were with my parents. Very relaxing. I love doing that once in a while.

Have I ever mentioned?

That I love Online shopping. Oh yeah... I do. The girls are in need of shorts. Yup I am thinking about summer already. Granted we still have at least 3 months until it is shorts weather here but once it hits the thrift stores get down to a very limited selection on warm weather attire. So I perused oldnavy.com tonight and ordered my girls some shorts,3 pairs for K and 2 for O, for $3.90 each. Can't beat that. Add in oldnavy.com's $5 shipping and I got myself a deal, at least I think so. I used to buy K all name brand stuff, usually from the thrift store, but occaisionally I would splurge and buy her new name brand stuff. I used to be able to afford to when I worked but now brand new clothes only come when they are on sale, meaning clearanced, and limited even then. No matter, my kids are happy and healthy and clothes, as the saying goes, don't make the man (or kid) in this case.

had a great day

Had the baby's check up. She is HUGE. She is all done with the infant car seat now. She is over the weight limit on it. Good thing I already ordered a new one for K. That one arrived today. It is awesome. It will be in my car tommorrow and K's will go in the SUV for O.

Did my 2nd round of volunteering with the Radio Auction. I hope to be more involved with it next year.

I jokingly (well kind of) told Hubby I would like to run for City Council next year. There are things in this community that need to be addressed and I think they need some new (and younger) blood on the council. There are not a lot of things for teens to do in this town. Lord knows that I know that, well used to, I am far from a teen anymore but I still get them, somewhat. As a young(er) adult, I see job opportunites leaving, although some are coming. There is a need for change there. Don't get me wrong. This is a great town and I love living here but I would like to shake things up a bit. The representative for my district is just a little older than me and is very popular so I think I would run as council member at large rather than for my district. Hubby told me to think about it more and if I decide to he will back me completely on it. He thinks they need more female influence on the council as well. I have thought of doing this before but never had the opportunity because of my work schedule. I could never attend meetings.

Random things today...

let's see....

I took K outside with me while I used the snowblower to make a path for the propane delivery man to reach our tank without having to trudge through a 3-4 feet of snow. I am pretty sure there isn't that much back there but it is alot. Anyway I was watching K and she was playing in the garage. I turned my back for 2 minutes, finished the path and checked the tank's gauge. I turned around and she wasn't there. I ran to the garage. GONE. I ran into the house. NOT THERE. I run back outside and start screaming her name. NO ANSWER. I was in a full blown panic. I was about to run into the house and call the police and here she comes, happy as can be. OH thank GOD!!! She went to the front porch and was swinging on the porch swing.

I got hubby's name put on the kids' accounts today. Hubby and I decided that we needed to get our wills, medical directives, etc all in order so that if something should happen to either of us, there are no questions or fighting. We have been meaning to do this and did it somewhat before I had that baby. We officially did it today though. I drew up our wills the other day and we just had to have them signed, witnessed and notarized today. We had to have our medical directives witnessed and signed but they did not have to be notarized so we did that later this evening with a couple friends. Now we just have to make copies and give them to our doctor for our files at the clinic and the hospital. We decided to finally get off our butts and have this done now because there is some in-fighting on hubby's side of the family regarding hubby's deceased brother's money. Said family member is being a jerk and if it was all written out we would have a legal recourse, but because my deceased brother-in-law was not much of a planner and never thought he would pass away so young, there are problems. We don't want that so we decided that we best get this done now. We did our wills and medical directives with this program that cost $30. You can download a free trial at the link. The free trial will not allow you to save or print. The program itself comes with a lot of great features besides will writing. It has request letters for records, cancelling accounts; lease agreements; sub-lease agreements; reciepts; many types of notices; and pretty much any legal document you could ever dream of.

We ordered a new car seat for K today. We got this one. I did not have the money to spend on a car seat but my daughters' safety is first. She is almost 40 lbs and has just about outgrown the car seat for her in my car. The one in the SUV goes up to 65 lbs so we have a ways to go there. I could have gotten her a cheaper seat but I wanted her in a 5 pt harness as long as possible and this seat will go to 65lbs with the 5 pt harness so I feel much safer with her in this seat versus the one we have for her for the sitter where she would only be secured by the car's seat belt once she is over 40 lbs. She very rarely rides in the car with the sitter, but we are in the car frequently. This is the cheapest seat I have found with the 5 pt harness that goes up to 65 lbs.

We really do not need to have 2 car seats for K and 2 car seats for O but it is such a pain to continually move car seats back and forth, especially in my car. Hubby doesn't drive stick shift so he can't just take my car if he needs to take the kids somewhere. Plus he is really bad at installing the car seats so if I install it, I won't worry so much. I told hubby this should be the last car seat we ever have to buy. He said "thank god!" In total since having K we have spent $740 in car seats!! Can you believe that?

Here is how it breaks down:
Infant car seat~$45-ish dollars. I wasn't going to get one and just go with a convertible to start but a wise momma told me that the infant carrier type car seats are really nice for going into stores or visiting with someone. You can carry the baby in the seat and the baby has someplace to sit, etc. I am glad I listened to her. There were times even after K outgrew the infant seat, that we used it as a seat for shopping carts, etc. before she could sit up on her own.

Britax Roundabout for my car~$199. At the time I bought this seat, we were both working and had money to burn so I bought the highest reviewed seat at that time. I do not regret this purchase at all. It is a fantastic car seat and will last through O as well

Graco Comfort Sport for hubby's car at the time~$80-ish. We tried this seat for 2 trips. Hubby HATED it with a passion. He could never get the straps to tighten right, he could never get the straps to loosen. So we gave this seat to my mom and she loved it. We now have it back and it will go in the SUV for O to use as soon as she gets moved to a convertible seat, which will be within the next month.

Britax Marathon for Hubby's car~$240-ish. I did not want to spend this much on that car seat but hubby fell in love with the speedway pattern and he loved how easy the Roundabout in my car was for him to use so he bought it. It is K's current car seat in the SUV.

Cosco Scenera for the sitter's car~$40-ish. Once K outgrew the infant seat, the sitter asked that we get her something for K to use if she had to take her anywhere. I wanted a 5 pt harness and this one was cheap enough. It is easy to use and installs in seconds but I wish I would have looked a little closer at the specs for the harness before I bought it. Live and Learn I guess.

Apex 65 for my car~$136

YIKES!!

We filed our federal taxes today. We have to wait to do our state but that is done.

I was driving the SUV tonight and slid coming into the driveway. We have a giant ice pond at the end of the driving from the last thaw and re-freeze. It snow a bit today so the ice was slicker than usual. I hit the snowbank on the side of the driveway but I was going so slow that it didn't do any damage. Our driveway is just wide enough at the end for the SUV because of the massive snow banks, that you have to pull in just right with it or you don't get in. Seriously, they are like 6 feet tall.

so stressed...

Hubby's leg and back are killing him. The kids are whiny, clingy and crying and I just want to curl up into a little ball and go away from it all. All day long K has been doing everything she can think of to get on my nerves. EVERY THING!!! She has taken to hiding her crayons so she can color when SHE wants to color. I think I finally have found them all but not before her little sister's bedroom wall sustained some damage. The baby is having an allergic reaction to something my mom was wearing (I'm guessing her tanning lotion). Mom was cuddling her and must have rubbed faces with the baby because the baby's face looks like it has been sunburned or windburned. I washed her with a cool rag, it didn't do any good. Hubby fell asleep right after work, I woke him up for dinner. I had to repeat something to him 5 times before he finally answered. He didn't even realize I was talking for the first 4 times I spoke.

I WANT TO RUN AWAY, of course it would be only for a short time because I would miss my family too much.


My dad gave us an old snowblower that he fixed. I am happy about that. No more shoveling for my poor back or shoulders.

Rolling

The baby rolled for the first time today. She has been rolling onto her side and then almost over but she made it completely over today. We are not telling Hubby though because he was trying so hard last night to get her to roll (he missed all of K's firsts), he really wants to see her first roll so we are just going to let him think he did. I am sure she will do it tonight for him so it really won't make a difference but he will be happy.

First "accident"

Not really an accident per se but K told me she had to go potty so I got her PJs unzipped she said she wanted to go by herself, so I let her. She couldn't get her underwear down fast enough so she peed on the potty through them. LOL. I know she is not ready full on constant potty use but at least she is trying.

big girl underwear

So K asked me this morning if she could have big girl underwear. We talked about it and I explained that big girl underwear are for girls that can use the potty all the time and not pee in their pants. They have to know when they have to go potty and then go on the potty. She said she could. So we tried it and she did. Off she and I went to the store. We got groceries and the last stop was the underwear aisle. I gave her 4 choices and she mulled them over for a few minutes before deciding on Dora. So my little girl is sporting some Dora panties now.

last night and this weekend

Starting today our high temperatures for the next week or so is only going to be in the single digits. AYE! so cold. I can say for certain that me and the kids will be staying home. If I do get out in the afternoon, it will be when hubby is home so I can leave the kids here. The only thing nice about temperatures that low is that it rarely snows here when it is so cold.

Last night was a bit difficult in mi casa. The baby went to sleep fine as did the older kid. I should have known they had conspired against me. You see, my shoulder has been hurting so I decided to take 1/2 of a prescription pain killer before bed, 1/2 because the full one sometimes leaves me feeling worse in the morning than if I had never taken the pill. 1/2 is enough to numb the pain yet leave me coherent and able to function fully. I fell asleep almost immediately last night. At 1 am the older child woke up scared. She had a nightmare of some sort. I am still not sure what, she has no recollection this morning of screaming and scaring the daylights out of her mom, who was in the midst of a very peaceful, drug induced, relaxed sleep. So of course I had to go to the bathroom and check on the baby since I was already awake. I finally fell back asleep about 1:30. At 5:30 the baby woke me up. She was happy and just a cooing away in her crib. Daddy was awake but daddy is no help in the morning because he is slow as it is getting ready for work, the last thing he needs is to feed the baby. He gets out the door just in time every morning. So the baby gets fed and starts playing. Just as the baby starts to fall asleep, I curl up on the couch, hoping to catch a quick hour or so nap before the older child wakes up. No such luck this morning, K woke up 1 hour earlier than normal. So K is wide awake, the baby is sleeping and momma feels like lying on the couch and not moving for the whole day. Definitely not taking any painkillers until nap time. Today is going to be a nap day for momma as well as the kids.

cops eat donuts

That is the newest phrase from the mouth of my 2 year old. Tonight the fire whistle was blowing, Kaitlin calls it a cop whistle. Anyway she came into the livingroom and proudly announced "cops all gone. cops eating donuts." I have never heard her say this but evidently last weekend sometime there were a couple police cars at the gas station. Kaitlin saw them and mentioned it and Hubby told her the cops were there eating donuts. Yep, this is going to be interesting.

an imagination

According to K there is a monster in the basement. The basement door is in the toy room and she runs out to the living room at least once a day telling me she is scared of the monster. So I asked her to show me where it was. She pointed to the basement door. So I yelled down the stairs at "it" and did my go away monster dance. Then I told her when she is scared of the monster to do the dance and it will go away. That kid! What an imagination.

Whine and Cry

All K has been doing since waking up is whine and cry. UGH! (whine) I waaaaaaant milk Mooommy. (whine) where is my cup? (whine) I waaaant cereal. Is this day over yet? Is it nap time yet? Hubby is going to be pretty useless to me today. He stayed up until after Midnight playing his game.

more friends, more fun

We had a girls night tonight over at a friends house. She has 2 kids that are a bit older than K. K had fun playing with them both. Then our single friend had made dinner for us. It was delicious. Strips of streak with these amazing onions. K ate more onions than anyone else. Then there was ice cream for dessert. I passed on the ice cream but K had some and really enjoyed it. It was a great night. I have never seen my friend with the kids so happy. She is in the middle of a nasty divorce. She has started dating again and this guy makes her so happy. It is wonderful to see her happy.


While we were gone, Hubby got some precious time to himself. He really enjoyed that. He needs some alone time once in awhile and I am happy to oblige him when I can.

sooo tired

My darling little baby woke up at 3:30 am and again at 5:45 am. This is one tired mama today. I could fall asleep as I type this. Within the last couple of days, O has discovered her voice. Her "voice" is more of this high pitched screeching and then a laugh afterward. That is what I woke up to at 5:45. At 3:30 I woke up to her normal "feed me" cry. I do not mind getting up to feed O at all but I really dislike getting up early because she wants to "talk". UGH. She is just sitting in her bouncy seat eyes wide open and just talking away. I NEED a nap...already.