Highs and Lows 3/6/2012

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Lows

• I forgot to give Arielle her ADD meds on Saturday, and holy crap, she lost her damn mind. Tried to cheat at a game she was playing with Jasmin, then when Jasmin told her that she was going to go tell, Arielle punched her in the stomach. So we brought her inside, punished her, and then told her that she could go back outside. Not 15 minutes later, I see Arielle playing in the construction area across the street that we already told her that she was under no circumstances allowed to play in. What the crap. So I made sure she had her meds on Sunday, and VOILA! Back to being my sweet girl. Who knew a tiny pill would make such a difference? 

• For some reason, my 6 year old has reverted back into being a baby. I don't get it. She's always been my easy child. But for the past couple of weeks, "Mom" and "Dad" are now "momma" and "dada", she whines and cries constantly, acts helpless when it comes to things she's always been able to do on her own, constantly sucks on her fingers. I don't get it, but it's driving me insane. 

• No spoilers, but The Walking Dead made me bawl on Sunday. And wish that one of the characters gets eaten by a walker. That's all I'm going to say about that.  

• I guess technically this would fall under this week, but since I'm late with posting, I'll just throw this on one here. I've had a ton of pillow orders this week, which is awesome. And I thought I was finished with all of them. But when I was packing up one of them and writing the card, I looked up the coordinates again (the lady wanted me to write "Love obviously lives at (insert coordinates)). And guess what. The coordinates I looked up did not match the pillow I made. I guess I accidentally typed a 1 instead of a 2. So that's just frustrating. So I get to remake that pillow. EDIT: Just rechecked the info so I can redo it, and it says I had the info right in the first place. So I get to redo it anyway. WTH.

Highs

• My sister in law decided on her bridesmaid/MOH dress. I've been pinning a few things on Pinterest for her. I figure the more people you have looking, the more options you have, right. And she ended up liking one that I pinned, which of course means I LOVE it. And it cost me a whopping $35, which I love even more. I'll just have given birth a month prior, so thankfully it's not a super skin tight dress. I've always gone back to my pre-pregnancy weight (minus like the last 5 lbs) a few weeks after birth, but you know how it is, and things just aren't in the places that they were before. So you better believe I'm going to pack myself into some Spanx too. Imagine my head on this dress. Pretty, huh?

• My etsy shop is getting some orders again, which is awesome. A couple of ladies said they found it from Pinterest. So the extra money has been nice, and it keeps me from laying on the couch all day. 

• Spent some good time with my mom. She came over one day and cleaned the house. Then we went out to lunch on another day. Love her. Right now she is outside pulling my weeds. I hate gardening, and for some reason I did not inherit her love of gardening. I have a brown thumb, every thing I try and grow just dies a slow death. 

• Signed Arielle up for softball. I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to. Last year she played for the church (which is a ton cheaper). But they didn't have enough girls sign up in her age group to make two teams. So I ended up signing her up for the city team. It's a bit pricier, but she's really happy. 

• Had a great time on Sunday with the family. I put on some great oldies like "Run Around Sue" and we had a little dance party in the living room. Even sweet Ava was trying to stomp her feet and dance. 

• Lover had always been awesome with helping with chores and stuff, but since I've gotten pregnant, he's gone above and beyond with helping, and it's so appreciated. 

• The nausea is getting so much better. I still need Zofran every now and then, but not nearly as often as I was. 

I think that's it. I can't remember. Darn pregnancy brain. 

InstaFriday. It's that time again

Yeah, it's time for InstaFriday again.

My dog Titan is a rockstar. See his mohawk? 

mohawk = rockstar status

Here is finally a pic of me where I don't look like death (I think). I'm growing out my hair, hence the non-mohawk I'm rocking.

This is my middle daughter Jasmin. I was ready to kill her this morning. She asked for scrambled eggs with ketchup, I make them, and then she didn't want to eat them. 

Bonehead. 

My oldest Arielle. Those ADD meds have really been a great thing for her. Our relationship made a complete 180 and she's such a pleasure to be around now.

My sweet friend Candace dropped off a little package for me this week. I've been CRAVING Oreos, but my mom gave my hidden stash of Oreos to the girls. So Candace was sweet enough to drop some off, along with some other favorites.

Oh yeah, the package was addressed to "The Hot and Sexy Pregnant Lady of the House." Yeah, that's me.

My husband is a rock star. The house has looked like a tornado went thru it for the past few days weeks. He spent two hours one night after I went to bed at 7pm, cleaning it from top to bottom. It was such a nice surprise to wake up to. Love him! He's truly gone above and beyond with helping me during this pregnancy.

My sweet Ava sleeping. I hated to wake her up, she looked so sweet.

Went to lunch with my mom, we ate at the snack corner at the Korean store. Their bulgogi isn't as good as my moms, but it was pretty good. I'm in LOVE with their salad dressing, but the owner makes it himself and won't give me the recipe.

Ended up getting to church a bit early for Awana, so we let the girls play on the playground.

This is how Ava usually rides in her car seat. Look at her lounging. Lazy girl.

Besides bath time, this is Ava's FAVORITE time of the day. When Lover gets home from work, he brings in his gym bag and she gets all excited to crawl over there and pull every thing out.

This is how you'll find me these days, laying on the couch. Luckily Ava loves to snuggle with her momma.









Holy cow, apparently I take a lot of pics during the week. Enjoy.

11 Things You Didn't Know You Wanted To Know About Me But Now You Do.

Lesley at Fabulously Flawed tagged me in a little Q&A and I thought, " Hey. Why not? I'm only watching the River for the 4th time since I'm goofing off on Facebook and not really following the show. So I keep having to restart it. Eventually I'll figure out what's going on.

1.  How did you decide to start blogging?

Lover actually encouraged me to blog. I've always been a crafter, and he said "Hey, you make interesting crap. People might like to read about your awesomeness in a blog format." Okay, he didn't say that exactly, but close enough. 

2.  What would be your dream job?

Something with animals. I always thought it'd be cool to be a dolphin trainer. Don't I look like a natural?

3.  What is your favorite movie or book?

I think Wicked by Gregory Maguire is such a phenomenal book. I've read a few others of his that I enjoyed too. I didn't care for the rest of the Wizard of Oz books (Son of the Witch and I know there are two more) but the other ones are good. There is one about the stepsister of Cinderella that was good. 

Favorite movies? Shawshank Redemption of course. And the Color Purple. And Pan's Labyrinth. And The Labyrinth. All epically awesome. 

4.  Favorite food?

Really depends on the day. Usually Cherry Coke and Sea Salt and Vinegar Lays, but now they make me gag. This pregnancy is so weird! Normal favorites would be cheesecake. Or pecan pie. Or a good BLT with mayo.

5.  If you had an entire afternoon free, who would you want to spend it?

Something with Lover. Doesn't matter if we're out, or just chilling at the house. I know I'll have a good time. But it'd have to be before 7pm, which is my bedtime these days.

6.  What is the most significant goal you have achieved to date?

Crap, I don't know. I haven't killed my children, which is saying a lot considering that all they do lately is bicker. 

7. What is your dream vacation?

I want to go on one of those wildlife safaris in Australia. Think a kangaroo would want to come home and live with me?

8.  When you go to weddings, do you dance or sit like a bump?

Dude, I dance my butt off. I don't care if I'm the only one on the dance floor. Life is too short to worry about who's watching you live it. 

9.  If you were going to volunteer for an organization, what would it be?

There is a wildlife rescue called In-Sync Exotics about half an hour from here that I've always wanted to volunteer at, but due to time, I just can't. They rescue wild cats from bad locations/bad owners and rehab them and give them a forever home. I took Lover there on a tour for our one year anniversary, and the love that the owners have for these animals is just amazing.

10.  Favorite celebrity or sports star?

The only sport I follow is UFC. And my favorites in that sport are Forest Griffin, and it used to be Georges St Pierre, but he's been so lax lately (plus he's injured) and he isn't finishing fights. Yes, he's winning, but he doesn't finish them (if you are a UFC fan you know what I mean). 

Fave celebrity? One would be Ryan Reynolds. Not because he's good looking, but because he's a world class actor who's super talented in portraying diverse characters..... yeah, who believed that load of crap? It's because he's hot. 

My other "favorite" actor? Favorite meaning super non-secret celebrity boyfriend?

Despite my husband not understanding my crush on Jake Gyllenhaal, I think he's gorgeous. But I guess I'd have to say my favorite actors, acting wise, are Tom Hanks, Tim Robbins or Morgan Freeman. I'd watch them do an infomercial in hemorrhoid cream.

11.  What is your best go-to recipe when you have company coming?

I do chicken fajitas. They're super simple, everyone makes their own plate so it's super low key, and nearly impossible to mess up. 

Now the silly rules:

**You must post the rules.

** Answer the 11 questions that the tagger posted for you & then create 11 questions to ask the people you've tagged. (Crap, just read this part. I totally jacked Lesley's questions)

** Tag 11 people and link them in your post.

**Let them know you have tagged them.

Eleven? Crap. Eleven means three, plus whoever wants to do it, right?

1. It's Sew Stinkin' Cute

2. Miss Madison's Charmed Life

3. Whimsy Ma Blog

4. YOU

Highs and Lows 2/27/2012

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Lows

• My blog was all jacked up for who knows how long. Went to check it, and thanks to "being too popular", Photobucket wasn't showing any of my buttons, just a bunch of ugly icons, and said I had to upgrade to Pro. Wow, thanks Photobucket for the warning. Luckily, Lover is a web guy, so now he's hosting them on his server. But what a pain. 

• I hate the Attorney General. I've been divorced from my ex for 5 years, and felt it was time to have the child support adjusted. So, instead of paying a lawyer $1500, my friend said that she goes thru the AG and it's free. So I filled out the form online, and figured that was it. Well, apparently there is some "Affidavit of Direct Payments" form that I didn't know I was supposed to fill out to show he's been paying me directly for the past 61 months. So since we've never gone thru the AG, they didn't have any proof that he's paid me. So, rather than call me, they sent him a lovely letter saying he owes $38,000, they were going to intercept his tax return, and they sent it to collections which dropped his credit score by 100 points. So, of course, I felt like shit, even though it wasn't my intention to open that can of worms, and while I spent a lot of time on the phone crying about it, he wasn't too upset and said it was an honest mistake, that we'd get straightened out and we'd laugh about this in two years. So I spent this morning driving 45 minutes to Dallas to get the form notarized, and then went to the AG office to drop it off and close the case. The lady said that it takes up to 20 days to update the case, so we'll see if my ex gets his tax return next week like he's supposed to. I really hope he does, he's using that money to come down this summer to pick up the girls, and they are so excited about it. Oh, and trust me ladies, his reaction surprised the crap out of me. That was not the reaction of the man I was married to for 3 years. Not at ALL.

• Arielle played softball last year, and she loved it. So we signed her up for it this year, but there weren't enough girls her age that signed up, so they can't make two teams. We offered to let her play soccer, but she was really bummed. We're looking into signing her up for the city, but it costs quite a bit more. So we'll see. 

• I might have to be a mean mommy and get rid of my daughter's hamsters. They were given to us by a neighbor (who's dad got tired of cleaning up after them). It's two girl hamsters, which I thought girls weren't supposed to smell as bad. We split them up and Arielle has one in her room, and Jasmin has one in her room. Arielle's is fine, but Jasmin's stinks to high heaven. I can't change the bedding anymore (makes me gag) so Arielle changes it once a week. Even so, not 2 days after it's changed, Jasmin's room STINKS like pee, even with a room neutralizing deoderant gel thing that I bought. I'm already spending $23 a month on the bedding, which lasts us one month. So to change it twice a week, I'm looking at $50 a month on bedding. FOR A HAMSTER. Which is can't justify spending $300 a year on something that the hamster pees on, when we're a soon to be family of 6 on a single income. We always said that we'd never have our house smell like animals, and when I got home today, the house reeked of pee and foulness.

Highs

• The constant nausea is getting better! I seem to be tossing my cookies more often (like 2-3 times a week instead of 0-1) but I much prefer this. 

• Did dinner with a newish friend and her husband last night. Her husband and my husband seemed to hit it off, which is awesome. Ya know how you meet people, and really want to get to know them better? That's how this is. But how do you do that as an adult? Things were easier as a kid. 

• Had a lovely dinner with the family at Red Lobster last Friday. I heart RL. Have you ever tried their Boston Ice Tea? It's half ice tea, half cranberry juice, and a orange wedge. I get two orange wedges, squeeze those bad boys in there, and add 4 packs of sugar. YUM.

• I spent so much time sleeping this weekend, and it was FREAKING AWESOME. Slept from 7:30-5am on Friday night, then took a nap from 2-6pm, then went to bed at 8:30 on Saturday, woke up at 5am, and then took a 2 hour nap. It was glorious. 

• Luckily, this morning at the AG office took me all of 15 minutes. The one time I called them, I was on hold for 35 minutes. I was terrified that it was going to be like the DMV, but I was in and out. Filed out a form, made a copy. Wham bam thank you ma'am, I was done.  

• I've had some feedback lately on my blog that's been a real high. A reader sent me a lovely email, some have left comments. Apparently you like me, you really like me. :)

It was a hectic week, but I can't complain. I feel like I've spent all damn week on the child support issue, but thankfully I've done all I can do at this point and now we're just waiting for it to be closed. 

InstaFriday. I'm on time, suckas!.

I'm actually posting a post on THE day it's SUPPOSED to be posted. What what!

My absolute, favorite part of the day. Ava LOVES bath time. When you say "Do you want to take a bath?" she'll start to squeal and try and take off her clothes.

We all know how much I love Ava's curls. I just didn't realize how long they were getting. 

 

Ordered some cake pops from a friend. Ava loved hers!

 
Going thru my phone for pics for InstaFriday, you'd think I only have one kid. But with the older girls in school all day, I hardly get a chance to take pics. So I snapped these this morning. My kitchen is messy, blah.

 

Jasmin's fake smile always makes her look a little drunk. 

Ava LOVES to play with Arielle, and always ends up wearing some of her stuff. 

 
Do you think that dogs can tell when you're pregnant? Titan has been stuck up my butt lately. 

One of my favorite parts of this week? Seeing our bebe. I'm measuring 3 days ahead, so things are right on track. 

 
The nurse asked me what vitamins I'm taking, and I told her that I'm taking a one-a-day, but I was having a hard time with how big they are. So she told me that she'd give me a sample of some different ones. I was expecting a couple of boxes, but she gave me enough for a month. I heart free stuff. And I like these. 

Ava and I are twins today. Who doesn't love pink penguin jammies? 

 

Again, Titan, won't leave my side.

Why, hello there, little bebe!

I had my first OB appt yesterday at 1:30. We found a new dr for this time around, a few of my friends recommended her, along with a bunch of the NICU nurses that we know. Plus, she does a sonogram at every appointment, plus she's willing to let me try a VBAC. 

So we get there, the nurse takes my blood, ask me a bazillion questions and puts me in a room while I wait for the dr. The Dr comes in, does the normal checks and then she has the nurse get Lover and she starts the sonogram. We got to see our bebe, just chillin' with a heartrate of 176. She said that you want a really high heartrate at this point of pregnancy, so that's all positive news.

I felt really bad, Lover came in the room and he was pretty upset that he had to sit in the waiting room the whole time. He's very involved with our pregnancies, and while the dr normally keeps the husbands in the waiting room during the breast exam/pap, I wish I would have asked to have him in there. 

I asked her about the VBAC, and she told me that since I didn't labor before I had the c-section with Ava, that my uterus was still really thick when they cut me and sewed me back together (as opposed to laboring for hours and thinning out the uterus, and they sew something super thin back together). She said that there would be a uterine pressure monitor on me during labor to make sure my uterus was doing okay, and we'd go from there. So I was pretty excited that it's a real possibility. 

I had a rough time with my c-section. Just laying there, motionless, while everyone else in the room knows what is going on except for you. Just felt so removed from the situation, like I wasn't a player in the game. So I'm hoping for a VBAC. Fingers crossed!

I left the appointment feeling refreshed. It's like, I knew I was pregnant, but I've just been so miserable with nausea that it was hard to be excited about it. But seeing that little baby on the sonogram just reminded me that it's all for a purpose. Plus, she gave me a prescription for Zofran to help with the constant nausea. Fingers crossed it works!  

We are officially due October 1st, but I'm measuring a few days ahead. I'm so excited to meet this baby. Both my older girls were born at 39 weeks and 7ish pounds, Ava was of course born early due to her birth defect, but they said that if she had gone full term, she would be been a ten pound baby. Eek. 

Highs and Lows 2/20/2012

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Lows

• I thought that Arielle had been a really good girl lately. We'd had issues for months (lying, being sneaky, etc), but the past couple of weeks, it seems to have turned around. Last week, her teacher sent home a note, saying that they were out of treats in class, so if you could send in a bag of Hershey's kisses, she'd really appreciate it. So I bought a small bag, gave it to Arielle on Thursday night and told her to give it to her teacher on Friday. Our conversation on Friday afternoon (after she had homemade rice krispy treats for a snack, and just asked me for some of my hershey kisses)

Me: "Did you give the bag of candy to your teacher?

Arielle: "yesssssssss"

Me: "Why are you answering me in a weird tone?"

Arielle: "I dunno"

Me: "So I can call her right now and ask if she got it?"

Arielle: "No"

Me: "Why not?"

Arielle: "Cause I don't want you to."

Me: "So what happened to them then?"

Arielle: "I hid them in my desk and ate them."

Me: "You ate an entire bag of Hershey kisses by yourself?"

Arielle: "Well, I gave one to my friend."

 

It was just horrible timing, since we were about to walk out of the door to go to her first ADD appointment, which we were trying to make a positive thing. Grrrrr. Her punishment? She got popped for lying to my face. And we had planned to take her to Cici's after her appointment for one on one time with us. Oh, we still went to Cici's for dinner. But she got to bring along a peanut butter sandwich and eat that, while Lover and I had pizza, since you obviously already had your treats for the day. And she had to write a note to her teacher, telling her what happened and apologize for stealing from her. That child had the nerve to ask me for dessert that night. You ever see that skit by Bill Cosby about kids being brain damaged? I think that was written about Arielle. 

• The morning sickness is still ever present. Some days it's just nausea, some days are spent tossing my cookies. I understand my suffering is for a greater purpose, but dang. 

 

Highs

• Arielle was officially diagnosed with ADD. I do consider that a high, since I know that she's not just a bone head and I'm not just a shitty parent. The dr put her on a low dose of meds, and we'll try that for a month and see how it works, So far, it's just made her REALLY chatty. Yowzas.

• I love that Lover always remembers to get the girls something for Valentine's day. He got them each a little box of chocolates. Love that man. 

• My mom. Is. AWESOME. She came over on... some day last week (darn this pregnancy brain, I can't remember anything) and she cleaned the entire house. Swept, vacuumed, did all the laundry and dishes. The house has been NEGLECTED since all I do lately is sleep. Plus she made me two different Korean dishes that I've been craving. 

• My husband has taken on so many more responsibilities since I've been pregnant. He's basically playing the role of single parent. He gets home from work, takes over with making dinner (since by then, the smells are probably making me nauseous), then feeds the girls (at this time, I'm probably headed off to bed right after dinner). Then he handles checking homework, playing with Ava, getting the girls ready for bed, reads to them, straightens up the house and then does freelance. Love that man.

I think that's it. My day revolves around laying on the couch and trying not to fall asleep so Ava doesn't, ya know, die or set fire to the house.