Mr. Cautious

This is Mr. Cautious:

I know he doesn't look like a cautious person:
but he is a bit timid, especially when it comes to riding his bike without training wheels.
We have been working on it on and off all summer and it has been a struggle.
A struggle that I am not cut out for because I get easily frustrated when he will not even try. He finally figured out how to balance and pedal and ride without training wheels after a week of trying, but getting him back on the bike was difficult. Getting him to ride without running along side of him was tricky too, but we got that down. He was doing so good the only thing was, he hadn't had a big crash yet, and we knew it was going to happen, we were just worried he would not get back on the bicycle afterwards. Well yesterday we had a playdate at playground that has a small paved loop beside it, a perfect opportunity to ride our bikes. Lance got on and took off, it was great:

until he got a bit ahead of me and encountered a slight decline in elevation and started going faster and faster and faster. I realized that Lance was going faster than he felt comfortable with so I started yelling for him to brake and was running to try and catch up to him. "Brake! Brake!" I kept yelling, I couldn't figure out why he wasn't doing the very thing that he was so good before. When we were first teaching him how to ride minus training wheels, Lance would put on the brakes the first instant he realized that we were not holding onto him or the first time he was balancing on his own, and now he is riding and needs to use the brakes and he wasn't. I can't win with this child! At the bottom of this slight decline is a slight left hand curve and it was here that Lance crashed. Thank goodness it was on the left because the right had some erosion control plastic up and trees that could have broken something on impact. I ran to him as he was sitting up and I wish I would have gotten his picture because he had a large blade of grass stuck to his forehead and dirt all over his face, he ate it and he ate it good. I immediately brushed him off, told him it was a good crash and tried to get him back on the bicycle. Fortunately, I think due to peer pressure, when he stopped crying, he climbed back on and we went back the way we came to avoid future downhills and did two loops on the trail.


He did great! I did not have to stay right beside him or hold on and he was able to stop twice without me. Now he just needs to get started on his own. So I think we have got bicycle riding without training wheels down! I never thought we would be here, not after all the crying fits and refusals to try that occurred back in May. We have come a long way so to celebrate we had a treat:

frozen yogurt! It was delicious! So our summer mission to get Lance to ride his bike, accomplished, all that is left is trying to get her:

potty trained, we have been working on it for months, but we keep having setbacks and she just doesn't care if she pees all over herself which makes potty training very difficult.

Easter Egg Hunt

So what do you do when you have 3 kids under 4 to entertain on a cold spring Saturday morning and it is almost Easter?  You take them to an Easter egg hunt/ petting zoo.  Fortunately, I had a little help, my mom came with us because I don't know if I could have managed everyone on my own. 

All 3 kids jumped into the stroller and we walked over to the church putting on the festivities.

The kids really liked the "Easter" bunny.  They kept trying to feed it grass. 

 Lance and his "girlfriend," smiling with the "Easter" bunny.

They also had some puppies which Lance loved and he was so good with them, he was very gentle.  The puppies were so cute, I wanted to take one home with me.

One puppy fell asleep in Lance's lap.  I would have taken it home with me, but then I thought about having to house train a puppy and reconsidered a puppy quickly.

 After years of trying, I finally got Lance to go on a pony ride.  I told him it was just like the carousel he liked at the zoo, just alive, although it doesn't make any sense, he relaxed a bit and enjoyed his three circles around the petting zoo.

 Lily was a bit scared at first, as you can see, but made it without crying or freaking out. I tried to get E to ride the horse, but she was too afraid, which makes sense if you think about how large these ponies are in comparison to themselves.

 The ducklings and chicks were also adorable and I wanted to take them home with me as well.

Me, ms. germ freak couldn't resist picking them up and holding them, which means they were pretty darn cute.  

After enjoying the animals, playing with sidewalk chalk, blowing bubbles, face painting and standing around for awhile it was time for the Easter egg hunt. 

Lily, after gathering two eggs was done, she sat down, opened them up and tried to eat what she had.  It is funny how she is content with a little and didn't care that there were hundreds of more eggs she could have gotten, she was content with her two.

E, like Lance knew that the object of the hunt was to find as many as you could, and she filled her basket up fast. 

Lance and E tag teamed the egg finding, and Lance was a great sport about letting E get some eggs too. I was so proud of him.

Lance showing off his findings. So despite the 40 something degree temperatures we had a nice morning outside and the kids are asleep worn out from their busy morning, Saturday morning fun was a success.

not sure what to make of this

I am not sure what to make of this:

 

Does this mean that he spends too much time with me and not daddy?

Or does it mean that I go shopping too much?

Or better yet, is this how he sees me?  Is this a reflection of me by my 3 year old?

He did use the shopping cart as a battery ram and he wasn't totally girly since he also put one of his trains in the cart in addition to the baby.

He was smart though and tried to run from the camera. He may be wise beyond his years and understand that your past can come back to haunt you, he must not want me showing this around to his future wife.

i torture small children

not really.  . .
somehow lily fell into lance's bucket and got stuck and i tortured her by getting a picture before coming to her rescue

she looks so pitiful with breakfast crumbs around her mouth and swollen eyes thanks to round 2 of pink eye
then she got mad and big brother came to her rescue and pulled her out

stuck in a bucket, who would have thought it was possible

sometimes they drive me crazy

especially when they don't get along,
and there are other times when they melt my heart,

when they play together,
just don't look too closely at the mess they have made

tag sale

yesterday the price gun for the store finally arrived in the mail and this morning lance had a little too much fun with it
our house looks like it is ready for a tag sale
the drawers, fridge, and tupperware are all priced

as well as the trashcan

his favorite blanket is quite expensive

he was quite proud of himself for pricing himself as well as lily

so he had to add more price stickers to each of them

two little monkeys jumping in the bed

lily was up quite a few times last night and by 9 this morning she was ready for a morning nap. we all went upstairs and I put lily in her bed. lance was in his room then came out and looking for lily. I told him that she was in her bed trying to go to sleep and to leave her alone. I was in my bathroom putting my contacts in and trying to get ready for the day since I only had to deal with one child at the moment. Of course lance did not leave lily alone to sleep, he climbed in bed with her and tried to teach her how to jump in the bed. lily tried to jump as you can see her little legs moving, but fortunately she isn't quite there yet. fortunately no one was hurt and they had a good time together. It was nice to see them having fun together instead of trying to keep them separate and out of each others toys.

yard sale fun

My mom, her best friend, and her best friend's mother were all going to hit up this subdivision that has lots of yard sales this morning she asked if I wanted to tag along. Hmmm, sleep in or get up early and go around to yard sales that may or may not have something I need. I couldn't decided so I went to bed and figure if I was awake in time I would go, if not I would stay in. Well, at 6:55 I was awake so I got dressed, got Lily dressed, and met up with my mom to hit up the yard sales.
I have to say, it was a lot of FUN!
Not only did I have a great time I ran into a lot of people.
I ran into several people from my old church that I hadn't seen in YEARS! It was so good to see Tom, the greeter, he is such a sweet old man, I miss seeing him every Sunday morning. I saw a few acquaintances of friends and Jeff's. I saw one of my dance instructors from when I started taking dance again after college, it was funny we recognized each other, but couldn't figure out who we knew each other, and it took awhile to figure out how we knew each other, but it was good reminscing.
I didn't realize getting up early on Saturday morning was such a social event.
I got some good buys too.
I got a sleeper, and outfit, and toy for Lily. I got ten books for $3.25 for both kids, and most of these books didn't look like they had ever been opened. I got three hot wheels/matchbox vehicles in the boxes, never opened for potty training rewards for Lance. I got a grater for cheese for free at one house that was just giving stuff away. I found an I Spy vehicles book for Lance and a Thomas the Tank Engine Christmas ornament for him too. Oh and another sun car window thing for Lily's side of the car. My best find was a bicycle for Jeff for $30, hopefully he will be able to fix it up and sell it for a $150 or $200. I had a great time and can't wait to hit up some more yard sales in the coming weeks and help my mom with one this summer too.
So I had a good time getting out, seeing people, shopping for dirt cheap, and letting Jeff and Lance have some time just the two of them a.k.a. letting me have some Lance-free time.
Oh yeah, I am absolutely amazed at some of the junk people try and sell! Such as the the thermos you get for FREE at the hospital, the having a baby book you get for FREE at the OB office, the board books you get for FREE at the hospital when you have a baby which have the sticker says that they were a gift, the children's meal toys and books, and other FREE things, does anyone buy that stuff? Some stuff was really nasty or junky looking, such as the rusty spray paint, who wants rusty spray paint? Some stuff was really random, one house had a box of at least 20 viewmasters of various styles, were they hoping they would be worth something one day? My favorite ridiculous find was a set of fake snakes with a sale price tag from target of 48 cents, but when I asked how much I was told they were 50 cents, it would be cheaper to get them at Target! The ridiculous items just made the shopping adventure that more interesting and definitely kept me entertained. I don't look down on anyone and what they were selling, I am just curious people's mindset, me I give away anything I wouldn't buy myself, I seem to have a very high standard, maybe I could make more money with a lower standard, hmmm, something to think about.

slacker mommy

I don't know if I am going to make it through potty training.
First off we have a very busy schedule and we aren't home all day most days.
Secondly, I am not a patient focused person which was evident this morning. I have two kids, it is hard to stay focused on just one.
Since we were spending the day at home I asked Lance if he wanted to wear his Thomas underwear. He said yes so I reminded him that pee and poo goes in the potty and not the pants. I should mention that he has gone in the potty before, worn underwear before and I thought we would have success this morning, but I was wrong. Every five minutes or so I would ask him if he needed to go. He would say no, but twice he did sit on the potty, but nothing happened. We went upstairs, with potty to play. I reminded him every five minutes or so, even came up with a song. He had been in underwear for a long time and I was going to try and get him to sit on the potty, but then I got sidetracked and the next thing I know Lance is walking a little funny. He had peed and then to my horror I realized he had pooped too. After cleaning up the floor and Lance I asked him once again what he wanted to wear. He chose underwear again and I reminded him that he needed to go in the potty. I figured I had a bit of time since he just went, but I was mistaken. He was playing on his bed then he got down and walked to the door. He held onto the door frame, lifted his leg slightly and peed, and boy did he ever. I was so shocked that it was hard to contain my giggles. AHHHH! How do parents potty train their kids? So Lance went right back to diapers and I feel like Lance will never be potty trained, he did so good last week, what happened? If constant vigilance is the key to potty training, Lance is going to go to Kindergarten in diapers. Part of me feels this whole process would be easier if he could talk. Parenthood can be so frustrating and messy at times. I really need a light at the end of the tunnel in so many areas in my life right now, potty training included. I feel like such a failure, can't something just go easy for once?

it snowed

it actually snowed! i can't believe it. i am not sure how much we got, 6 inches or more. it has been years since it has snowed like this. it is beautiful and we are having a fun day. after breakfast we got bundled up and headed to a great sledding hill a few minutes away and did some sledding. we then came in and had the standard snow lunch of grilled cheese sandwhiches. lance and jeff went back out to play in the snow while I got Lily down for a nap and then Jeff went to snowboard while Lance slept. after everyone woke up we made chocolate chip cookies, yum! and then i got to make dinner kid-free since jeff was home. we feasted on shredded bbq chicken sandwhiches, homemade mac and cheese, and french fries, not necessarily the most nutritious, but it was sure yummy. all in all it was a fun day and we enjoyed having daddy home for the day, he doesn't get a whole day off very often.
the view out our front door, the road is covered, the first time, in a long time.

lance checking out the snow first thing this morning.

poor lily, so bundled up she could barely move.


lance and i about to head down the hill

lance, lily and their friend ella, chillin' in the snow

the four of us out in the white stuff

mysterious vacuum cleaners

Oh how I wish I was posting about my new Dyson, but I don't have it yet, emphasis on YET!
No today's vacuum cleaner story is brought to by Lance.
We had a busy morning. Lance's speech teacher is going to be gone the rest of this week so we had speech this morning. Lance fell down on the way inside the school so for Lance today was not shaping up to be a good day, and neither one of us knew how bad it was going to be. Lance wasn't very cooperative at speech, but you have good days and bad days, and today Lance just wasn't in the best of moods. Anyways, we left speech and headed to the library for storytime. Today's theme was "Crash! Bang! Boom!" otherwise known as loud noises. So after the hello song the librarian had a pictures of objects that make noise around the house (car, vacuum cleaner, baby, telephone, door, soda, etc) and a CD with different noises on it. She was going to play a noise and the kids were suppose to recognize what object made the sound. Well the third sound on the CD was the sound of a vacuum cleaner. Within 5 seconds Lance jumped up in my lap and tried to hide from the sound. I tried to explain to him it wasn't real, but he didn't seem to believe me. I didn't think really anything of it until he started holding onto me with a death grip and I needed him to let go so I could hold Lily (about 5 minutes later). Lance would not let go and started to cry when I tried to pry him off of me. Imagine, me sitting Indian style with Lance sitting on his knees in my lap, arm tightly wrapped around my neck, head buried on my shoulder, basically Lance trying to figure out how to hide using me. I couldn't figure out what his problem was and then it hit me, he was scared of something. I tried to ask him what he was scared of, but he just pointed to the front where the librarian had all of her props (including the CD player). Lance did not participate in the rest of storytime (okay 95% of storytime) and was ready to get out of the room as soon as we could. I wish I knew what he was thinking and knew exactly what had him so freaked out. The only thing I can figure out is he heard the vacuum and since he wasn't really paying attention he assumed that the librarian had a vacuum in the front of the room and that he did not want to be anywhere close to a vacuum. I don't understand how one little kid can be so TERRIFIED of a vacuum. Is it because I didn't vacuum enough when he was younger, or I don't vacuum enough now? Is my lack of a decent, working vacuum making a negative impact on my child's life (ha, ha just kidding on that one?) Lance will generally not go in a room if there is a vacuum in it, whether or not it is on. He is getting a bit better since there is one in Lily's room (the quieter of the two we currently have), but he is known to need assistance with walking past a vacuum. Also, he still screams when I do vacuum, and I have to say for the record, I have NEVER chased him with the vacuum, he would probably drop dead of fright, poor guy. I don't understand why he is so scared, I sure hope I can get a new vacuum and it will be quiet and help Lance get over his fear because it is getting a bit silly. It could be worse, he could be afraid of, toilets, right?

she's a sleeper

Too bad I didn't enjoy last night as much as say Jeff did.
Lily did it, I can't believe it. At only six weeks and two days she slept all night long.
She fell asleep a little after eleven and didn't wake up again and eat until 7:15 this morning! I can't believe it and I hope we will have many more long nights so maybe I can enjoy them since I didn't get to last night, long nights os sleep that is. I of course was up at two when Lance came into bed with us and I was up at 4 when she usually gets up to eat. I was also up at 5:30 to make sure she was still breathing and because I was worried about her. I was tempted to wake her since I thought I was going to explode if she didn't eat soon, but despite my slight nudges she slept on. I had a hard time getting back to sleep at 5:30, but finally managed too and was still amazed when seven rolled around and I realized that she made it all night. I remember at six weeks with Lance we were excited when he would sleep 5 hours. She is such a good sleeper, though I am afraid that just praising her will jinx me and she will be at all hours tonight. She has been a good sleeper from the beginning, our first night home from the hospital and she went 4 hours between a feeding, which surprised me considering how active she was in the womb. I don't know whether it is her or we are just more experienced parents who somehow have developed a good sleep pattern already? My mom says it is because she is a girl and girls are easier, and she may be right, wait, Lily is like her brother who doesn't like to be set down anywhere, not what I call that easy of a baby. Who knows, but I hope that next time she sleeps well I can enjoy it and no longer be programmed to wake up every few hours. Now if we can just get Lance sleeping better. Lance has never been a good sleeper and though he does sleep in his bed all night on some nights there are more nights when he gets up and since we have been getting up with Lily and have been tired we haven't fought him and let him sleep with us. This also contributes to my lack of a good sleep last night because Lance is a bed hog and occupies most of my half of the bed. Now if Lily will keep up her good sleeping habits and we can get Lance on one too, you will have one happy momma, well actually one less grumpy momma. On the topic of grumpy, I feel bad for both my kiddos this morning. I was very grumpy,the stress of life right now combined with my both my children's need to be held at every moment with a dash of cold weather making a cold house made me a grump. I got frustrated with both kiddos and I feel bad, our nice morning at home was full of crying, temper tantrums, and me wanting to call Jeff to come home so I could escape. I get frustrated so easily. Frustrated at Lily because I want to be able to play with Lance without holding her. Frustrated at Lance when he won't listen and he is whiny. And frustrated at myself that I don't have the patience and energy to deal with the two of them. Unfortunately this morning brought out the worst of all three of us, but I am learning how to be a mom of two and it isn't easy, especially since I have to often put aside my priorities and personal space.

can't sleep

I feel miserable and can't sleep. I have some serious sinus issues and the claritin I took this morning doesn't seem to be working. I could tell this morning that I would have some allergy issues today so I took a claritin this morning and was doing pretty good until I took Lance for a walk this afternoon. Halfway through my eyes started watering, my nose started to run, I could feel the lovely post nasal drip, I felt gross. I convinced Lance to go in after the walk and watch Oprah (it was about hoarding and it was fascinating), I felt better so I gave in and went back out to play until daddy came home (it was hard being in for an hour when every 5 minutes he would walk to the door and try to go outside, but I really need to give my nose a break). We stayed out until dark and my eyes and nose bothered me the whole time (we even ate dinner outside). Then I had Jeff vacuum for me while I picked up the playroom. I lost a foot part to a dresser in Lance's room so I had to search through the vacuum bag that we replaced, I didn't find the lost part I thought I had sucked up by mistake and I am sure digging in all that dust didn't help the allergies much. I went to bed not to bad and woke up a little after 3 am miserable. The right side of my face is all stuffed up and my throat is just nasty. I can't sleep and I am frustrated that I can't take a decongestant for two reasons, they make my heart race and I am pretty sure they aren't safe while pregnant or at least the ones that are make my heart race. I hope things will get better in the morning, we have plans to go out of town to go shopping today, just Jeff and I. I am really nervous because I have never left Lance for longer than a couple of hours and today we will be gone for 10-12 hours. I know that this will be good for both of us and I can't believe that we haven't been apart for more than 6 hours since he was born (and that 6 hour absence occurred when he was 3 months old!). I also hope that my mom can handle him for 12 hours, he loves her to death and with the weather going to be beautiful it should be an easy day for her, all she has to do is sit outside with him and make sure he doesn't go out in the street, I made sure to put a comfy chair for her outside so she can relax and read while Lance plays. I am going to miss my little man, but I know this is a good thing because in 5 months when I am in the hospital with #2 I will be forced to be away for a few days and he needs to be able to handle that, the thought of that makes me sad, but that is a whole other can of worms.
So I can't sleep and when I can't sleep I think, and I came to a few realizations tonight:
1- Going out to eat or eating prepared food is a lot more expensive then groceries and I shouldn't convince myself otherwise. Sometimes I try and rationalize going out to eat and that if we share a meal it can cost the same as preparing it at home and then I realized how wrong I was. The tax for prepared food in the city: 11% and tax (non-prepared food): 2.5%! Hopefully the next time I don't feel like cooking I will remember this realization.
2- I am halfway done with my pregnancy! Despite being frustrated because I have nothing to wear things are better. I am not as sensitive to smells, appearances, grocery stores, mucus, etc. Thank goodness because this week has been rough (lance's first real vomiting experience, one stinky diaper because of his congestion, dealing with lots of mucus thanks to his allergy/cold issue, and my own congestion issues that before would cause gagging).
3- That Lance is 23 months old now which means he is almost 2!!!!! ahhhh, I can't believe I almost have a 2 year old and boy has he been living up to my almost 2 year old expectations with opinions and tantrums. It also makes me a little nervous because he is almost 2 and he still doesn't say much, maybe 3 phrases. I kept telling myself I wasn't going to worry until he was 2, but as we get closer and closer to his birthday my concern keeps growing and growing. I get the feeling he could talk, but he just doesn't want to, he seems to be exerting his autonomy by refusing to speak because he knows how desperately I want him to talk, I could be wrong, but it is just that look he gives me some days when I try and get him to say stuff makes me think he knows he just doesn't want to show me.
4- It seems like us making it another month at the shop is impossible, it doesn't seem like we aren't going to make it another week, yet I am strangely optimistic, maybe my brain has checked out at the door, but there is still so much fight left in Jeff and I just feel that if this isn't what he is suppose to be doing then he would still have the passion and ideas for it. It makes no rational sense, but that still small voice says keep going and until something else comes along we are moving along, barely, but we are moving.
5- It's 4:30 and I wish I could sleep because we have a busy day today. I hate being so sleep sensitive due to being pregnant, now is the time when I should sleep like the dead since there won't be much sleep happening in 5 months. Sometimes I wonder, why did I want to be pregnant, why did I think this was a good thing, and then #2 gives me a swift kick in the stomach and I remember what a gift children are and I need to enjoy every poke because in 7 months I will miss it.

come on spring

Today is sunny and the high is suppose to be around 60 and it makes me so excited for spring. Lance and I played outside this morning and we took a nice walk to enjoy the warm sunshine and temperatures. I am so excited about springtime, I can't wait. Lance and I walked around the yard for a bit and picked up some of the hundreds of sticks that came down last weekend and I noticed that my tulips are starting to poke through the ground, yeah spring is almost here! Also, today is a good day because he is currently napping, yesterday was rough. He finally fell asleep, but was only asleep for 30 minutes and the rest of the night everything would set him off because he was way too overly tired.
Dinner last night was very nice. I made chicken parmesan with spaghetti, a green salad, bread, and mini cream puffs for dessert. I took out the good china and put candles on the table. It looked really nice and everything tasted so good. Lance ate two bites of bread and then declared that he was "all done" so unfortunately he was running around while we were trying to enjoy dinner, but he wasn't too bad, no tantrums or screaming.

a really blah day

Today it is cold and overcast and the air stinks! It isn't too bad at our house, but at our shop it is horrible. There have been forest fires in the area (the county over from us) and now the air is really nasty. I don't know how people in California and other areas where they seem to get seasonal fires deal with it. We went out to the shop to help customers while Jeff ran to the bank, but what was suppose to be 30 minutes turned into 3 hours, but it wasn't like we had anything else really to do and with the weather so cold and no relief in sight I enjoyed being out of the house for the morning. That reminds me, (because I thought we would stay at home tomorrow) I have a haircut scheduled for tomorrow morning- what to get done, I have been trying to grow my hair out, but it is really annoying me and I don't know what to do, I want longer hair, but I don't know if it looks better though short.
Yesterday while running a few errands I followed some signs to a house that was for sale by owner, it was really cute and in a neighborhood similar to ours. I fell in love with it right away. It was a cape cod like ours, but it was brick and had a full dormer in the back (so I hoped it had more bedrooms upstairs then just two like ours). The yard was beautifully landscaped and it was on the corner so it wasn't too close to any other houses. I was sold on it until I saw the price. It didn't look a lot bigger than ours and though I haven't seen the inside the description didn't seem like it was anything too fancy, but the owners were asking $239,500, which seemed like a lot for a small house. Me being the detective that I am went to the city website to look up the tax assessed value for it and saw it was tax assessed for $190,000 which is closer to the price I thought it would be worth (I thought the owners would be asking 200 or 215). I was quite disappointed. It did have 2000 square feet, but it was an older home which means work always needs to be done and it had steam heat which is not the best heating then paired with an older home (1942) equates to freezing in the winter. And for not that much more there is a brand new house a few streets over. Maybe I am totally clueless, but 240 seemed like a whole heck of a lot for an older smaller home and a lot for that neighborhood (according to the tax data it is worth more than all the others on the street). The other day Lance and I looked at a house in our neighborhood that someone was flipping, it is really cute on the outside and though the inside isn't complete it was nice, but it won't work for us. The master bedroom was far, far away from the upstairs bedrooms which may be nice if you have older children, but not for babies. The master bedroom was downstairs in the back of the house and the stairs leading to the upstairs bedrooms were in the front of the house, not what I want if I am going to have to get up in the middle of the night to get a crying baby or toddler. Though we aren't actively looking, able to afford a new one, or have the time or energy to fix the one we have in order to sell it, I enjoy looking around at what's out there so when the time does come I know what I want and won't just settle on whatever. Looking at houses also helps me to watch my spending, when I am tempted to go shopping for something that I want instead of need I remember that I want a new house one day and that I need to be smart with money so we can get our "dream" house. I like having goals it makes being thrifty a whole lot easier.

daddy's not allowed to go out of town again

unless he takes us with him of course.
Jeff went to South Carolina for the winter sports trade show and left us here yesterday and it has been an interesting experience. Lance has daddy radar and was up when Jeff was yesterday morning and didn't go back to sleep, so we we started our day at 6:30, we usually get up around 7:15, i like that extra 45 minutes of sleep. We got ready for church and headed over. Lance didn't seem upset with daddy leaving, but when we got to church Lance was not a happy camper. We were in the hallway setting up for the children's program and Lance kept wanting to go into the ballroom of the conference center where we actually meet for church. He got quite upset when I wouldn't go in with him. When I was done with what needed to be set up for the morning we headed into the ballroom and Lance immediately headed back to the sound area where daddy usually is. He looked all around and then realized daddy wasn't at church. He was pretty clingy for the rest of the morning, but played and had a good time during the service. After service he seemed to be on the look out for Jeff again and was extremely upset when I headed to the bathroom. We then headed home and I tried to get Lance to take a nap, but unfortunately that wasn't going to happen. It was extremely windy yesterday (30 mph winds) and it was really loud upstairs so every time I tried to put him down he freaked out (the boy has sensitive ears like his dad, yet his ears don't seem bad when he is screaming bloody murder). I eventually gave up trying to get him to sleep (in various places) and he eventually crashed on the couch. When he woke up from nap, saying he was in a foul mood would not even begin to describe him. He cried and screamed and nothing I would do would get him to stop. I offered juice, snack, blanket, even a sucker, but he still was screaming and wouldn't stop. I headed over to my mom's house and I think the whole neighborhood heard lance screaming and probably thought I was torturing him, but there was nothing I could do to make him stop. His scream was so loud it hurt my ears, it was horrible. We got to my mom's and he stopped for a few minutes, but once we got inside he started back up again. We tried everything to make him happy, but nothing seemed to work. He calmed down a bit when I got him to help me feed the cats, but he still wasn't his usual self. He finally snapped out of his funk after dinner when Grandma let him play with water in the sink and make a mess of her living room. We then headed home and took a bath, the second for the day, this boy loves water and then we got ready for bed. We read our stories then watched tv and lance fell asleep. Since I don't sleep well when Jeff is gone (wait, I don't sleep anymore all the time) I kept Lance in bed with me to keep my company and so I wouldn't have to go and get him if he woke up really early in the morning. He slept great, I was up at 4 and had a hard time going back to sleep, but nothing unusual for me. I eventually fell back asleep and was awoken at 7 this morning to lance saying something and getting as close as humanly possible to me as he could. I figured since I couldn't sleep in we would wake daddy up so we gave him a wake up call and lance actually made some noise on the phone to him (he is usually dead silent when someone tries talking to him). We are dressed and ready for the day. We are going to head over to Magnolia for some muffins, hit the grocery, and then decorate a cake for my mom. Jeff fortunately will be home tonight, I don't like being home alone, which is strange because before lance came along I didn't mind it so much. I guess I worry that something might happen with Lance and I can't handle it or that my all day sickness will leave me incapable of taking care of both of us, who knows.
And another reason Jeff can't go out of town again, he car sucks! I am too afraid to drive anywhere too far because I don't trust his car. He says the reason it jerks is because it isn't running on all cylinders, he has needed to get it fixed for ever, but he always puts off car repairs until they are too expensive. I hate his car and wish we had the money to buy something a little nicer, one that you don't have to put into neutral to idle at stoplights because the bucking it does will make you motion sick.

i love it when the weathermen are wrong

This morning we got some winter weather that nobody was expecting. We had freezing rain and sleet and it caused schools to be closed, tons of accidents, and all kinds of chaos. Now accidents aren't good, nor playdates being cancelled (it happened to us), but having the trash coming later than usual gave me time to get a trash tag and put out the trash since my husband is a slacker (we have to pay for our garbage to be picked up, quite ghetto). So are morning plans were altered, but it was nice having daddy home a bit longer since we had to wait for the roads to warm up before venturing out and since my mom was off from school we went over to her house to play this morning. Even though it was only ice, I still enjoy unexpected winter weather. I wish the feeling of winter would last, it is suppose to be in the sixties by Monday, which will be great for playing outside, but bad for that Christmas feeling.
Last night we had my in-laws over for dinner. It wasn't as bad as I feared. They are very nice people and they mean well I just don't handle being mothered very well. Jeff said he sensed that I was pretty irritated at the beginning of the meal, but I lightened up towards the end. It is hard, we don't see eye to eye, I am very independent person and I don't like anyone telling me what to do, and I still have a bit of a grudge against them. A month ago Jeff's grandparents and aunts were coming into town for the weekend, something happened and they weren't able to come. Well unknown to us they came a different weekend and nobody bothered to let us know that they were town. We aren't able to go and visit them often because of the store and it is a pain with lance to go for 24 hours for thanksgiving, in fact we haven't really seen them in two years, but anyways. We were planning on making an effort to see them, but we weren't given the opportunity and according to jeff's parents this was their last visit, the drive is too long and jeff's grandfather can't handle the stairs anymore, so who knows when we will be able to see everyone again. So I have a bit of a grudge I am trying to let go of, but I am quite good at holding grudges so it is hard.

not a great morning

If this morning is any indication of what today's is going to be like, I should head back to bed. It isn't that bad, but it was interesting. First off, Lance has had two dirty diapers so far, two in one day is surprising, fortunately though I only had to change one because Jeff did the first. This morning I decided to make blueberry muffins. I put them in the oven, set the timer, and then was cleaning up the kitchen since I didn't last night. Timer goes off to let me know the muffins are done; I hit the disposal switch so I can wrap up cleaning to tend to breakfast when water begins gushing out from the cabinet below the sink. I immediately turn off the disposal, but my brain dead self doesn't think to turn off the water. Well it turns out that the pipe connected to the disposal fell off (i guess from the shaking of the disposal being on). So Jeff and I leap into action to contain the water and ground up food, meanwhile the muffins are turning brown! Note: water plus ground up food makes breakfast look not so appetizing. Jeff cleans up the mess and I finish up the bacon. I go upstairs to use the restroom while Jeff starts the eggs. By the time the eggs and bacon are done the muffins are cool and burnt slightly, but I think I can get past that. We sit down and dig in. A bite of muffin and then a bite of egg. Crunch goes the egg. I realize that I am chewing on eggshell and it sounds like a lot of it. I am totally grossed out at the this point. Jeff is watching me make faces with nasty bite and asks if the eggs are bad, I tell him no, but I got a mouth full of shell. Oops, he replies, he confesses that some fell in while he was cracking the eggs but since he was holding Lance he wasn't able to fish it out and I assume he forgot to. He went on to confess that it was a rather large hunk of shell and he was glad that I found it right off so he could enjoy his eggs. He actually said we, but I was over the scrambled eggs by then, so it would only be him enjoying them. Well of course as things go in our household, by the time we (well Jeff) had finished breakfast it was time for him to go and no time to fix the sink. So I do not have a working kitchen sink which makes me a little crazy because I can't clean up after breakfast and I hate a dirty kitchen and since everything from under the sink is out, my dining room is messy too because the breakfast mess won't fit in our small kitchen. So after Jeff left I needed to go shower and since no one was there to watch Lance it was a very quick shower in which Lance went through my bathroom cabinet and threw nearly everything into the shower with me. We both then got dressed and headed over to my mom's house to help her bring the Christmas decorations down from the attic. Lance cried and screamed and fussed the entire time. It was very stressful and not to mention my allergies are driving me crazy- all the dust from attic plus dust from moving around furniture for the Christmas tree. So after breakfast drama and Lance a very unhappy camper it hasn't been the best of days, but I know it could be a lot worse. Fortunately he is now sleeping and since I am too overwhelmed with my messy house I am not doing anything.

Christmas shopping

My mom and I went to Toys R Us this morning to do some Lance Christmas shopping. It was nice not having to sneak around to go shopping for him yet since he doesn't understand Christmas, presents, surprises really. We also went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel this morning with some friends and I won't be doing that again. It took 30 minutes before we were seated. It took 30 minutes to get our food. An hour is way to long to entertain an 18 month old. Also, everything breakable was down low where Lance could reach and sure enough, Lance grabbed an ornament and threw it on the floor and broke it. The food wasn't bad, but the stress of entertaining Lance was not worth the effort.

we had a morning

Jeff decided to take the morning off and I am so thankful he did. All three of us slept in, I don't think I have slept past 8 am in a very long time. Since Jeff wasn't headed anywhere I was able to clean my bathroom- it was nasty- and take a shower all by myself! We then headed to the mall because I really wanted to go to the gap and see if they had any nice clothes for lance for Christmas pictures. We ran into a guy we knew over ten years ago and he gave us a 30% friends and family discount so we all got sweaters (jeff's and lance's match!). We then checked out Pac Sun to see what shoes they were carrying and to scope out the christmas competition. We then decided to go to Victoria's Secret and splurge on a no longer nursing/ have no boobs and need something sexy bra. I tried on a whole bunch and found two I liked. At 40 dollars I wasn't going to buy both so I chose one of the two to purchase. The poor salesgirl who was trying to ring up people as well as open up dressing rooms couldn't scan the bra I had picked because the tag was messed up, I ran to grab another, but when I came back she was helping someone else and Lance was screaming. Lance was done with the mall and my time had expired. I told the sales lady I had to go and I was sorry and we left. I am kind of bummed, but we really didn't need to spend that much on me anyways and I can go to a department store and get more simple ones for less. I do keep thinking about the one episode I saw of Tim Gunn's guide to Style about how important under things are, but I don't know if VS is ideal, but it looked better than my current choices. We then headed to the shop and since Jeff was busy I ran to the bank and grabbed lunch while lance and him stayed at the shop. It was a nice morning and though I do have a bit of buyer's remorse since I got a shirt and a sweater today for myself, I am happy about my purchases because I haven't gotten anything for myself in awhile and I won't feel as frumpy as I do. It was nice to actually go out and do something as simple as shopping with Jeff. I enjoyed every moment of it because I know next week is when the craziness starts or at least I hope and pray it does!