Lookin' Good

In the line at Wal-mart today I turned around to glance at the dude who decided to stand WAYYY too close to me so that I could cast one of my dangerous glares in his direction. Unfortunately he was turned in the other direction so I instead got a close look at his neck. Unfortunately. yeah. Because on his neck was an enormous zit. Well it was actually bigger than a zit. Some sort of big red pussy, ready-to-erupt-at-any-second type zit. I seriously felt threatened. Like I should duck or something.

I had to share.

Then on my way out of the store there was a guy with two young kids. The exciting part of this is that this guy has the single most obnoxious mullet known to mankind. He had to take time every morning to feather and style the top part. I remember feathering. TWENTY YEARS AGO!!! When I saw hm I literally gasped out loud. It was so long and horrible. . .

Right behind this time warp was a lady wearing wranglers and bright red cowboy boots with SPURS. Her butt wasn't dirty and her jeans were wayyyy too tight to ride comfortably in, so I am guessing this was some terrible fashion statement gone wrong.

Not like I am some fashionable trend setter. But I did get deodorant on today!

OH GOSH WE ARE MOVING!!!

It is starting to sink in that we are actually moving. And the loads and loads of tasks associated with that are looming. I just made appointments for the kids with a new pediatrician, and a reservation for a furnished apartment which we will need while we are house hunting. Last night I was awake at 2:30 thinking of all the kid things I have to set aside so the packers don't pack them. . . and then I am worried because I still haven't been able to schedule a date for the packers/movers. And what if we don't sell the house? I'm going nuts here. NUTS.

While I type this I have a gorgeous 3 month old (as of today!) smiling at me with these dark little eyes that seem wiser than they should be. I think he is an old soul - as my Mom would say. He is starting to get ready to roll over. He gets his hips and body rolled over onto his belly but that darned shoulder and arm get in the way of complete success. Bubba/Sumo is 16 pounds as of this morning at the doctors office. Lucas is 29 pounds. Oh and about Lucas's UTI, we are going to wait until we get to Alb. to do the sonogram. Because if they find an anatomical reason for his UTI then we will want to deal with it up there anyway, so it makes sense to do all the imaging and diagnostics up there too.

Alright my littlest man needs me - gotta run.

Tired

Why don't children care when you are dead on your feet? All I am asking for is 15 minutes. A quickie. Just enough time to close my eyes and have a quick dream about a vacation spot. Maybe a remote beach somewhere. Someplace where children are forbidden and all I hear is the sound of the scantily clad waiter opening my freezing cold beer and the faint sound of snoring coming from my dozing hubby in the lounge chair to my right. I would gently laugh at the thought of my sister, who would be babysitting for us, trying to keep one kid from waking up the other . . .then I'd take a healthy drink of my beer and return to my magazine.

I haven't had a "real" vacation in close to 3 years. Visiting family once a year doesn't count - at all. But doesn't a beach somewhere sound nice? With chairs tucked up under some shade trees and servers available to get you whatever you want. . .like a pedicure. And Cheetos.

Luke's Birthday

Tonight we celebrated Lucas's second birthday. He got an alligator cake that didn't look too much like an alligator. But it sure was yummy.

Poor guy isn't feeling too well, the doctor called today and told us that he has a staph infection of his bladder. How he got this. . . we have no idea but it is a worry. So we are going to get a sonogram of his abdomen soon, and are going to see a specialist to try to figure this out.

The boys sitting on the recliner together



The Alligator cake that turned out looking like a lizard that lost its tail.



Getting ready to eat our cake.

Mom's Favorite

A friend sent this to me.

HOW TO TELL IF YOU ARE MOM'S FAVORITE

Crazy Neighbors

You wanna hear more about my neighbors don't you? I can tell. Alright . . . here goes.

The ones that were screaming in the driveway, they have a 20ish son. He works for the city and drives a city car (a P.O.S.) with a light bar on top - orange and blue. Every single day he drives home for lunch and gets out of the car - very impressed with himself- strutting into the house to eat the food his Mommy makes for him. But before he gets out of the car he "tests" his horns, sirens and loudspeaker. This lunchtime episode occurs at the same time I am trying desperately to get my kids to take naps. So as you can imagine I get PISSSSSED OFFFFFFFF every time he pulls this crap. Am I supposed to be super impressed that he is a community service officer? I really don't think so.

So today I marched outside after he let loose with the testosterone filled noise and informed him that I was trying to get the kids to sleep. He apologized, but not before he adjusted his ill-fitting, cheap duty belt. Good Lord!! Give me a break buddy.

This is the same guy who told me that if he finds someone in his backyard at night he is gonna shoot them, no questions asked. If my kids end up with attitudes and egos like his I'm going to personally bring them back to earth - the hard way. This guy could use a dose of reality - like say oh, I don't know PAYING RENT. That would be a good start. Maybe even having to move out of his Mommy's pad.

My neighbors on the other side of me make fun of this guy in the evenings when they sit out on their front porch with friends drinking beer and pushing the buttons for their car alarms- making them chirp. It is really funny. They are my kind of people.

Also . . . .

Here is a funny article on the olympic medal count:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/The-REAL-Olympic-medal-count?urn=oly,101537

Yummy Jam

Finally, I got the jam made. Apricot pineapple jam - mmmmmm. My mom really did most of the work. It is funny because we both have very different styles of jam making and they don't blend well together. I like to do things exactly as the instructions indicate and my Mom does not. But it worked out because I learned a thing or two and she . . . well she just tolerated me. I am so anal sometimes.

Jam in the pot

Finished product. Mmmmmm.

Diaper Duty

Me to Nick: Ok stinky butt let's change your diaper. . . . Eeeeewwwww. Oh my goodness!! Holy Cow . . . but you're so little?

Mom to me as she walks from the kitchen towards me: Oh stop being so dramatic, it can't be that baa. . . . . . Oh my GOD! (backing out of the room)

Yes this really happened.

Here is Nick after the diaper change, looking very satisfied.

Shots

Nick got his 2 month shots the other day and it was such an ordeal . . . whew. The nurse didn't call us in until we had been waiting for an hour. An hour is a really super long time to wait with an infant and toddler in a waiting room. When she got us into a room she commented on how cute Nick was and said that she HATED giving little ones shots. She went on to say that she nearly has a panic attack everytime she has to give babies shots because she hates making them cry. Great.

So I offered to give the shot and she could hold him. She said that she had to be the one to give it, which didn't surprise me. But I was very concerned about her technique if her only goal was to "get it over with".

Sure enough, she stabbed him with the needle in the most painful way possible. She had three shots to give and it was terrible. I really could have done a better job. As someone who has given plenty of IM shots before, I can confidently say that she sucked. So poor Nick, my "Mr. Mellow", was hysterical for about 15 minutes and despite all my attempts to calm him he just couldn't be calmed. *Sigh*.

Thankfully he has recovered and seems to be his mellow self again but I am more than a little pissed that they would have a woman giving shots to babies who has major anxiety over it.

On a positive note, tomorrow is the garage sale! So I've gotta get moving on it. We had a woman stop by the house this morning thinking it was today. Those people are voracious. She was so intense. I've never encountered hard-core garage salers before. Yeah I know Salers isn't a word but you know what I mean.

WHOO HOOO!!

It looks like we are going to move to Albuquerque! I am so excited. It was my first choice out of the 4 places AJ applied for. I guess the person who interviewed AJ called his boss and arranged for a EOD of September 28!!

Now I am in a bit of a panic about everything we have to do to the house before we sell it. I am sure it will work out. Right? These things work out. But seriously, how do you sell a 928 square foot house that is jam packed full of furniture and kid/baby toys? It is so cluttered that no one will want to buy it this way. I am going to have to do some major de-cluttering ASAP. So what does that mean?

GARAGE SALE BABY!!

This weekend. It all goes. Baby clothes, strollers, furniture - you name it - I got it and it has to go. I'm not moving a bunch of crap that I don't use.

WHOO HOO. So excited.

Rough Night

Picking up Ice

Lucas has started calling my Mom "Ice" because she always has ice tea that she shares with him. We went to El Paso yesterday to get "Ice" at the airport and it was a pretty cool day. We went up the tramway at the Franklin Mtns State Park (Yes I must abbreviate because I am lazy) http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/wyler_aerial_tram/ and it was a great view from the top. We saw all of El Paso, Juarez and . . . ok. Now I am just trying to put a good spin on this. You want the truth? It was kind of sad up there. All you could see - for as far as the eye could see was smog, factory stacks, development gone mad and yes, more smog. I would include pictures but I forgot the camera and honestly it wasn't pretty at all. At this point I am tempted to launch into a rant about big business, environmental laws and politics . . . but I am tired and will breeze past these topics. On the good side though the people running the tram were incredibly nice and it was interesting to see the area from that high up.

Here is Lucas after his first push pop. I figure this is better than pictures of the ASARCO (copper smelter) smoke stacks.

Things I Forgot

Since I have had Nick I realized that I had already forgotten so many things about babies. Here are some of the things I had forgotten.

• Babies pant. They breathe fast and shallow, and it is so cute.


• They kick their legs when they have gas.


• They hit themselves in the face. (I don't know how I forgot something this funny.)


• Body functions are incredibly loud.


• I forgot how fascinated with faces they are.


• That a toothless grin will snap you out of the worst mood in a second.


• Their ear canals are tiny. It is a wonder they can hear.


• When they sleep on their side they sometimes stick their chest out and their butt out and throw their head back. Lucas did this and I thought it was so cool. Now Nick is doing it and I can't believe I had forgotten about it. They only do it the first few months, and then it is gone.

• Milk breath. Not the nasty, spit-up kind but the sweet kind.


• I forgot that babies don't love their Mom or Dad first. They love the boob first. I mean they really LOVE THE BOOB. It is truly their very first love. Later on they love Mom, Dad and the boob at once.

I wanted to write (type) it all out so that I wouldn't forget again. I am going to miss all this. But at the same time I am going to really love sleeping through the night again.

Dinner and a Grunt

The guy AJ had over to dinner from work was nice. Thankfully he has a 2.5 year old and was very understanding when Lucas started grunting and turning red at the dinner table. Yeah. We all knew what was going on there. . . . awkward. But my Lasagna turned out well and so did the bread and veggies. Lucas decided he didn't want to swallow his carrots so he spit them out into his napkin and handed them to me. But he wasn't standing on his chair and screaming like some kids do. He did very well for someone his age. He sat and ate and didn't spill his water and was a good little guy.

sleep

Can't

get

the

little

one

to

stay

asleep

without

being

held.

Very

frustrated.

Day in the Car

We decided to run to the mountains today. It is so hot here that we wanted to go to cowboy day in the hills. It was so pretty there but the cowboy day was a big disappointment. There weren't many people or things to do, so we loaded the kids back into the car and came back to the heat. But it was still nice to get away if only for 6 hours. And I got to see some real trees, which was so refreshing.

We discovered that when one child wanted to nap the other wanted to scream. What a pain. It was so much easier when we only had one kid because when he wanted to get out of the car you would just stop. But with two kids (one needing a nap and one needing out of the car) we were pulling our hair out. We definitely won't be taking any road trips any time soon.

So I have some pictures of the blissful moment when they both slept together! WHOO HOO.

Here is a water bottle that has an abnormally high amount of particulate matter. We call this type of bottle the TODDLER BOTTLE. Adults are advised to avoid this type of bottle at all costs. Also be advised that unattended bottles may mysteriously acquire this particulate matter if left within a toddlers' reach.

Bubba

Hello,

Just wanted to stick some more pictures on here. The kids are getting so big so fast. We are affectionately referring to Nick as Bubba because he is so "hefty".

Here's Luke trying to get his pants off

Sidewalk chalk is super fun.The Hippie Dippy Dump truck. Lucas and AJ are so proud of themselves.

Cookies that AJ made. They are pumpkin cookies that are fluffy like marshmallows. Yummy.

Bubba and his Dada.

You're not from around here. . .

I'm standing in line at the only store in town. Wal-Mart. The man in front of me is super perky and smiling and chatting it up with the cashier. Based upon his demeanor I said to him: "You're not from around here are you?"

He says "No I'm not how did you know?"

And I told him that he was far too chipper to be from this town. He laughed and said that he just applied for a job here and was hoping to get it.

Step one: Open mouth

Step two: Insert foot

But I was right. He was a newbie. They are so obvious. And I am way too cynical.

Seriously though, who is that happy in this town at 8:00am? No one. Even the cashier was all bitchy and abrupt with him. People around here can't help it. I have fallen victim to this syndrome and need to snap out of it fast. I now feel bad for making him think that this was a shitty place to live. It isn't THAT bad. It is just isn't THAT good either.

Too many photos. . .

Mom - knock it off.
Seriously knock it off.
WTF??? I said STOP.
It is a rainy day and I am bored so I am going to style my hair. With product. I saw Aunt Stella style her hair and now I want mine done too. Although her's looked different than this. . .

Ummm, HELLOOOOOOO? That Toddler is about to fall on me. . . .

Ha Ha. What ya gonna do Ma?

Oh Daaaad. Where did you come from?

Hi everyone! My parents gave me too much sugar, can you tell?

Now I have to brush my teeth. At least Mom bought me this super cool spinning toothbrush that makes brushing fun.

Apricots

Yes this is a boring and mundane thing to write about but oh well.

I recently canned Apricot jam without using pectin. I tried an old fashioned recipe where you cook the jam to a certain consistency and then can it so that the pectin in the fruit is released and it sets up without additional pectin. Well it didn't work. I don't think I cooked the jam long enough and now I have all this apricot syrup that I am not sure what to do with.

So today I bought more apricots and am going to make jam again only I am going to use the pectin that you add to the batch. You would think by now (I have made a lot of jam in my 30 years) I would know that I shouldn't mess with a good thing. Why would I try a recipe when there wasn't anything wrong with the old jam recipe? I feel bad because I sent my sister home on a plane with Apricot syrup when she was looking forward to jam. This next batch I am going to make with pineapple. Yummy. Apricot pineapple.

Oh, and the weight watcher diet is off to a rocky start. I am so hungry all the time. I am on the core plan too, not the points plan. So I bought a bunch of fruit today so that I have plenty to eat and won't go off the diet. But I have got to loose some weight. This is rediculous, I am huge. I am avoiding all photographs of myself because I don't want this weight documented which makes me feel bad because at the same time I want pictures of me with the kids at this age. The only solution is to improve my diet and I may even have to resort to exercise. *GASP* The dreaded cardio. I would hate for it to come to that, but it may. . . .

Tomorrow I find out if Lucas has some weird fungus on his head so stay tuned.

Molars Molars

Boy it has been a rather rough week. And today was no exception. But it helps to have discovered last night that Lucas is cutting a fifth molar, which explains a lot about why my week has been so challenging.

It is funny because I was about to blow my fuse in the car today (which I have only done one time since becoming a mom) when Lucas started talking to his Daddy on his pretend phone instead of whining and crying like he had been doing. He went on and on to his "DaDa" about his kitties. He seemed to agree a lot in this pretend conversation because he said "yeah" quite a bit. It was so sweet and innocent that it snapped me right out of my mood. He is still such a baby. And he is such a good kid.

When we got home I checked his mouth again and discovered that he is cutting TWO molars. The other one is still under the gums but it is visible. AHH HA. Motrin for everyone!!

And then Nick decided to laugh for the first time and oh my goodness. It made me cry. It was the absolute best sound in the entire world - without a doubt. He looked me right in the eye and laughed. It was the best thing ever.

It was my first trip with both kids to Alien Land today and it was a long day. I had a female "exam" which I wasn't expecting at the doctors office - so I had both kids to juggle for that. Fun times. Then we had a marathon run around to Sam's Club and Target which needed to be completed before nap time (aka : nuclear meltdowns). Plus I got to juggle them both at a restaurant solo. Whew. That was a lot of work. I am getting better at this two kid thing but it is taking practice. I am just not a natural like some people.

Here is Nick smiling at me. He was also cooing and talking. This was taken a couple days ago. The angle of this photo is very funny looking, he looks obese.



This is a more accurate picture of Nick. Oh, and I am in there as well. And the other picture is Nick about to cry. He was gearing up to fuss a bit.



Here is Lucas in his adorable new outfit that Aunt Stella bought for him.



Here are both the boys camped out on our bed watching cartoons while Mommy put her feet up.

take what you can get. . .

So it seems that one of the jobs that AJ applied for won't pay for a move. Yuck. So that one is out. That leaves three jobs left that we are waiting to hear from.

This just convinces me that we need to accept the first one that is offered. If one is offered. Because who knows if the others will work out. Too bad that I have a strong preference among the remaining 3 jobs. Hee Hee. I think any of them would be a good change though.

So keep your fingers crossed for us!!

What Happened?

I remember when 8:30pm was so early and seeing the sun rise was something I'd seen only a few times.

Now I have dinner by 6:00 and am in bed by 9:00 at the latest. I see the sun rise every day and can't figure out why I'm the only one shopping for groceries at 7:30 in the morning.

How old am I anyway?

I live with a double chinned dude that has male pattern balding and some unexplainable rash. No, not my husband but my 2 month old.

Did I mention the aches and pains. . . .

And one last thing. I think my hearing is failing me, I hear the word "mum" about 30,000 times a day. No human being would be physically able to say mum that many times. And no sane "Mum" could hear her name that many times and stay normal.

Cowboy Boots and Underwear

So today I saw it. I saw what Shannon had once-upon-a-time reported seeing. My crazy, certifiably retarded neighbor in nothing but cowboy boots and underwear. Yeah. Let me paint the picture: he has a belly bigger than a pregnant woman, a tooth missing in the front and the other front tooth is chipped, he calls me Kristy despite repeated corrections, and he walks bowlegged and with a limp. He's one of these guys who has to concentrate in order to completely close his mouth. He claims to have learning disabilities but I swear his Mom dropped him on his head.

WAIT!! I dropped Nick on his head the other day. Crap. I will shoot myself if Nick turns out like this Moron.

Anyway back to my wildlife sighting. . . so he comes strutting out into his backyard to do something with his dog. I don't really know because I immediately turned to go into the house and avoid all contact. Then he called my name "Kristy". Argh. So I had to have yet another conversation with this person who I swear at one point made my eyes start to bleed. PUT A SHIRT AND PANTS ON!!

I was taking pictures of my garden when this horrific incident occurred. I will post them later.

Half Hour of Madness

So yesterday my sister called and 5 minutes into the conversation the tiny one poops all over me. As I am laying him on the ground to change not only his diaper but his clothes as well as mine. . . I dropped him on his head. Yes. It was horrible. Thankfully I only dropped him about 2-3 inches but still. He cried, I cried it was a mess. Oh my goodness then came the guilt.

So I get past the guilt, get everyone cleaned up and am reviewing the whole incident in my head when I recalled that the last words I said to my sister before I hung up were "Holy crap I just got shit on I've gotta go." And right after I said those words my adorable toddler sprang into action and got me a baby diaper and the wipes - before I even stood up (where I later dropped the baby). So . . . after I had time to reflect on this whole incident it occurred to me that the toddler knows what I meant when I used the word shit. Shit. This means I can't cuss anymore. That is what this means right?

I no sooner have this revalation than I get another call and am on the phone for a very short period of time when my toddler - Mr. Lucas - cracks himself on the bridge of his nose with the vacuume handle. So I kiss and make it all better (it took about 10 kissess though) and realize that it is bruising and began to worry that the poor kid would get raccoon eyes. Thankfully he didn't and thankfully everything was all better after he was allowed to eat sugar cereal right before dinner. I know. I'm bad. But hey, it is survival of the fittest around here in the late afternoons so anything goes.

New to this

Hello everyone,

I wanted to try this and I am new to this blogging thing. I guess I am getting a late start. And I am not too sure how much time I can commit to it but I will give it a try.

What is new in my world? Well other than the baby, I am trying to get the older one to sleep in a big boy bed. He is doing well during nap times but at night he still wants to be in the crib, which is fine. He is setting the pace really and I am just encouraging him to do it. So really my world is revolving around children. It is a little boring but nice at the same time. Though it will be nice to get back to work once the kids are old enough so that I can pursue my interests (yes they extend beyond kids - hard to believe sometimes).

It was so funny, I was in the doctors' waiting room yesterday and the nurse had just come out to call me into the exam room when Nick let loose this enormous fart and poop. The entire waiting room looked up and started laughing. So thankfully my hubby was there and I just handed my baby off to him and stood up and went to the exam room. Good timing! The funny thing about it was that the other women in the waiting room couldn't believe that a married man would change a diaper, or that I would have the balls to "abandon" my soiled infant. But my dear hubby very competently changed both children's diapers and an outfit right in front of them all while they complained that their spouses wouldn't get near a poopie diaper.

When I came back to the waiting room after my appointment and AJ filled me in on what the ladies had said - I had a good laugh. Plus I was reminded at how lucky I am to have married so well.

Oh and here is a cute picture of the kids.




So I am debating on making this a private site. Just because I am going to post family pictures and such. I'm not too sure if I want the whole world to access pictures of my kids. . . thoughts?