Life with Kids

Things I'm Dying to Tell You

2010-11-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

1. I've been buying raw fresh milk from a local farm. It's THE BOMB. Also Mariah isn't allergic to it. She's allergic to store bought milk, but not raw milk. Explain that one.

2. We still have 5 chickens making their home in our backyard. One almost got eaten by a hawk....but didn't.

3. They're finally laying eggs! Three or four a day.

4. I made my own mozzarella cheese today and it's good!

5. I'm officially a freak! (deduced from the first four items I've been dying to tell you).

Ummmmmmm, also my kids are doing great. The house is great. I'm still homesick, but it comes and goes.

Pictures are coming as soon as I can find my camera battery charger. I've been looking [read: gazing aimlessly] for it everywhere. I have so many wonderful chicken pictures to share with you! Aren't you excited?!?!?!*

*Please refer to #5.

Winnie the...

2010-07-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

Poo Poo

I probably should have corrected the kids the first time they called this lovable little icon Poo Poo, but I just couldn't help myself. They still think that's his real name......What?? some kids grow up believing a fat guy in a red suit at the mall gives them Christmas presents, let me have my fun.

The Truth about Barbacoa

2010-07-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Have I told you the story about Barbacoa yet? I don't think I have, and since I just consumed my weight in barbacoa tacos following a very bad night and equally bad day I'll tell you it.

When Helmut and I were first married we used to drive down to Mexico at least once a month and spend the weekend with his parents. They would go out of their way to make Helmut's favorite Mexican dishes which soon became my favorite dishes, because while all food down there is much simpler in ingredients, it's somehow tastes much richer in flavors.....at least for me and my delinquent taste buds (a story for another time). Depending on who you're dining with the food may look strange.....scary even (because you know they do sell brain tacos and fried blood down there), but Helmut's parents are very picky in what they will eat and have never served me anything "weird" by American standards.

Our visits had gone on monthly for quite a while when they started to tire of making the same things over and over, so one afternoon before we were supposed to leave they brought in a precooked/pre-shredded meat, some fresh tortillas, limes, cilantro, and onions. I could tell they were a little nervous about feeding me this meat, but from what I could tell it just looked like some beef....and my gosh was it ever delicious! I ate and ate and ate until I was stuffed, towards the end I asked what it was exactly, they all avoided my eyes and Helmut told me it was goat meat. I told them it was the tastiest goat meat I'd ever had and I LOVED it.

Every visit for the next two years I specially requested that meal again to which they all politely declined, and not wanting to make my new In-Laws uncomfortable i quit asking for it.

Fast Forward through my pregnancy and Hayden's first year, and now I am halfway through my pregnancy with Mariah.... or I guess i could just say "3ish years later."-----

Helmut and I found a Mexican flee market on the outskirts of Austin and decided to spend the day looking around. At lunch time we made our way over to the taco stands and were trying to decide which kind of tacos to get. Unlike Mexican taco stands these places had the menu's in Spanish AND English. I'm just going to cut to the chase here, obviously you've figured out that there's a listing for the very literal translation of Barbacoa on there. It's Beef Head. BEEF HEAD. Like the whole head of a cow. I was really grossed out. I looked at Helmut and said "Beef HEAD?? LIKE THE HEAD OF A COW???" and he was all, "yeah, didn't i tell you that?(Guilty face). NO, No he did not. Oh well, at least I only ate it once.

Once his family realized that I knew what it was and still wanted it they began buying it for us again....once in a while....as a treat.....pretty much just for me.

I looked up recipes for making it at home and all of the authentic ones include purchasing the entire head and removing the eyes, ears, and tongue yourself, then wrapping it in tin foil and steaming it for a million hours. I don't think that's going to happen anything soon, and reading that turned my insides to jello for a while, but I'm hooked. Lets say it's a twice a year treat....or since we found that authentic taco place in Round Rock it's more like a once every 6 weeks treat.

First Names Take 2

2010-07-24T21:11:00.000-07:00

"Lolly"

First Names

2010-07-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

"Email"

Catch Up

2010-07-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

The following few posts are of names my kids call stuff. None of these were prompted.

....Oh yeah, we're doing good. I finally got my computer to work again, let's hope it holds out for a little bit longer....or at least until we find some gold doubloons in our new backyard and can afford another Mac.

Hello World.....or the 3 People Who Still Read This (I Heart You).

2010-06-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know it's been a while. A really long while, and to be honest the thing that bothers me the most about not blogging is that I've got about a thousand chicken pictures backed up that I'm longing to showcase. I know, it's sad. Several months of not blogging and the only thing I care about is showing you chicken pictures. My gosh somebody slap me.

We are completely moved into the new house now. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I'll get around to it eventually....probably when we're ready to move again. I have to say, after living here for a month, I'm in love. We were really skeptical about this house for a few reasons. One: it only has three bedrooms so Hayden and Mariah have to share. Two: there's this big awkward space right when you walk in the front door that we can't figure out what to do with and we definitely don't have enough furniture to put in it. Three: It has a smaller yard than our last place and we value a big yard. All three points have worked themselves out though. The room sharing has actually been quite fun for the kids. I thought having them share a room would be a sleep loss nightmare (for me), but Mariah is a heavier sleeper than I thought and has so far slept through all of Hayden's nightly strolls and potty breaks. The bonus room has turned into a temporary piano room/play room, which when we're having a good day is almost magically wonderful...like something from a movie, And the smaller backyard has proven that quality is better than quantity....what can I say, I appreciate mature trees and SHADE.

I don't have any pictures to display right now since per my facebook status I am out a computer for a while and am borrowing Helmut's to make this long overdue post, but hopefully something soon.

Also, we took the kids to see Toy Story 3 today and it was hilarious. Mariah didn't quite make it to the end, but Hayden was still jamming popcorn in his mouth as the credits were rolling. As far as scary goes, i don't think it was as scary as the first and will probably be my favorite of all 3 of the series.

Random Bad Flower Pictures (or Weeds)

2010-05-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, I realize it's been a while since my last post, and you are maybe wanting an update on moving, house selling, life with chicks, the last 5 horribly embarrassing tantrums that Mariah threw, etc. But instead I'm going to give you a challenge:

Name this flower. What the heck is this? I saw it today in the backyard growing alongside all the dandelions. It looks like a really big dandelion.

For comparison purposes, behold a dandelion:

Conversations with a Three Year Old: The House

2010-04-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Hayden: "Mommy, what's that?"
(Pointing to a screw sized hole in the ceiling)

Me: "It's just a hole"

Hayden: "OH NO MY HOUSE IS BROOOOOOKEEEEEN.....I'm so sad."

House for Sale: DIY Do or Die

2010-04-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

The past three days we've been internetless or I'd have filled you in on the catastrophe that was our house. As you know we've had the house for sale for a week now. The second day it was for sale Helmut knocked off a couple of tiles in the shower exposing some ominously moldy drywall. That was the cause of freak out #1. When I say freak out, I'm really exaggerating, because while the mold was alarming, it was still easily fixed.

We both spent the entire day researching bathroom mold fixes DIY and came up with a plan. First remove all the tiles covering the moldy area. Second replace the wet drywall with backer board, and lastly, replace all the tiles and re grout. We began to execute our plan Thursday night after the kids went to bed. It took Helmut hours to clean off all the tiles so we could reuse them. Then he cut out the old drywall exposing......da da daaaaaaaaaaa (musical interlude), TERMITES. Crap.

I spent Friday lining up appointments with Termite inspectors to make sure that was the only affected area and to get it treated. By Monday we had a full termite inspection done which revealed only damage to the bathroom. Helmut was able to fix and patch the hole and now we are finally back in business. I just hope that seeing a gaping hole in the bathroom shower didn't turn away any buyers. Come on people you know you loved the house with the creepy bug infested bathroom. Nothing screams buy me like rotting drywall and the stench of mold.

Confession: Gardening

2010-04-19T22:07:00.001-07:00

One time I ordered a "corner" garden from a magazine. I expected the
plants to come in pots and wondered how they could ship 50+ plants so
cheaply (free shipping). What I got were 50+ tightly bound roots in a
small box. I planted them dutifully following the instructions. Three
months later I was the proud owner of four blooming flowers.

Life Lesson #18: if it sounds to good to be true it is too good to be
true.

House Woes and Other Stuff

2010-04-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

As of Thursday our house is for sale. As of Friday our house no longer looks like a gem. Now it resembles a fixer upper, scarry, not-gonna-buy-that-house, house. Why? In short, Helmut leaned over in the shower and a bunch of tiles fell off the wall. I don't think he even bumped them. We've lived in this house for 4 years and somehow failed to realize the shower wall was a rotted, wet, moldy, old piece of drywall. duh. Everybody knows that.....except us. I did notice a slight crack in the tiles, but i thought that was normal? I don't know what I thought, but after using the shower for 4 years and not having it implode, i figured it was okay. I figured wrong, and now we are committed to completely redoing the shower, or at least whatever is affected by the rot, which appears to be the entire back wall. Guess what else happened on Friday....our bid got accepted on the new house we're planning on buying...ha ha ha. Oh well. What can a person do.

Instead of moping around and saving our pennies to pay for the shower repair and the new house, and the old house, and whatever else, we decided to take the kids to their first theater movie. So we got up early this morning and went to the first showing of "how to train your Dragon." Hayden sat silently and still through the entire movie while Helmut and I juggled Mariah as she wiggled around, demanded to hold the popcorn bucket at all times, spilled half a bottle of water on her lap, and flailed randomly. There were a few moments I thought to myself "maybe we should remove this little menace from the theater," but neither of us wanted to miss the action, so we distracted her with more popcorn. All in all it was great.

To sum up this very dry blog: House>bad, Movie>good.

Battle of the Doll

2010-04-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or are pictures of dolls totally creepy?

Soon after my abrupt career as baby shoemaker ended I started making (or trying to make) dresses for Mariah. For a little while it was fun, but I quickly realized that there is no way making clothes for her is cheaper than buying them. Plus the cheap clothes at the store are always cuter than the weird things i make her, AND they hold up better in the washing machine. So I stopped making her clothes and despaired that I would ever be able to make anything with my sewing machine than wouldn't actually lose me money.....until last week.

{Enter: the naked doll}

Mariah got a really cute doll for her birthday. It's called bath doll or something from Target. It came dressed in a little t-shirt and a diaper which Mariah promptly removed. In the months since Mariah's birthday we have fought an epic battle of clothed doll vs naked doll, with me repeatedly dressing the thing while she as quickly undresses it and leaves it lying around naked. A couple of days ago I was trying to redress the dolly without her noticing when I couldn't find the shirt or diaper. She must have stashed them somewhere when I wasn't paying attention. That night after she went to bed I had an idea. Why not make some doll clothes out of the scraps I had left from my failed attempts at .....everything else I've tried to make so far.

Three days later I'm finished. I think they're decent, if not a little cute. Certainly cuter than anything I've made for Mariah thus far. In case you can't tell what they're supposed to be, they're doll pajamas. I priced some doll clothes at target which go for 8.99$ on sale and 9.99$ regular price. These probably cost me .50 cents in materials, and 1 hour in time (only because I made my own pattern). So there, I finally found something that is cheaper made at home. Doll Clothes.

Is this the beginning of my career as a doll clothing designer? Who knows. But it's certainly the start of something. At the very least Mariah's dolls will have clothing, whether she chooses to allow them to be clothed or not.

Paints

2010-04-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

It was even cuter when he was wearing the hat. One of Hayden's favorite activities that doesn't include running.

Life with Chicks: The Raddist Cage on the Planet

2010-04-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

After the chicken eating contest that the cats held a couple weeks ago, Helmut took it upon himself to build the remaining chickens a cage to keep them safe. This also means they no longer take up a stinky space in our garage. I'm pleased....as are the chickens.

Conversations with a Three Year Old: Pedestrians

2010-04-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

This exchange took place in the car on the way home from the store one night. It's important to note that Helmut and Hayden couldn't see each other at the time.

(From the back seat)Hayden: wiping something from his eye,
"What's that?"
(From the driver's seat) Helmut: noticing a pedestrian,
"That's just a man walking down the street."

Hayden: pausing to think,
"there's a man walking down the street in my eye??"

Spider Advice---->Help!

2010-04-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

I just googled "are spiders attracted to certain people." You want to know why? The day we spent at the ranch with friends marks the 4th occasion on which I have found a spider resting on Mariah's shoulder.

When I was little my siblings got kicks out of watching shows like "America's Most Wanted," Kujo," "The Gremlins," and pretty much anything scary, so when "Arachnophobia" came out they were all over it. I must have watched it 3 or 4 times before I realized I didn't like watching scary movies. To this day I will close my eyes if I think something scary is going to happen....not that I'm scared ---->pashaw----> I just don't want to have repeats of those scenes playing over and over in my head when I'm trying to fall asleep...which is inevitably what happens. Anyway, that was also the point in my young life where I realized that I am absolutely terrified of spiders. For a long time after that movie I would double and triple check the toilet to make sure there weren't any in there, and I would always let the shower run for a few minutes to make sure no spiders would come out of the shower head.

I'll never forget the time I was walking with Helmut and Hayden on trail at one of the local parks when i began to notice all these freakishly large spiders living in the trees over head. There were hundreds of them....and FREAKISHLY LARGE.....like oreo cookie sized. I contemplated blacking out, but the thought of laying under them was worse than the thought of sprinting to the car and hopefully out running their creepy spider intentions.

There was also that time when I was living out at Camp Eagle. I was heading back home one evening 6 miles into the 8 mile driveway when I spotted a tarantula crossing the road. So naturally I slowed down and let it go by.

Let this be a lesson to you parents. Don't let your kids watch scary stuff on TV or they may develop certain irrational fears.

Back to Mariah: Four times now I have found spiders on her shoulder. FOUR. Can anyone explain this?! I have NEVER found a spider on Hayden's person. DOES SHE NEED MORE BATHS? IS IT A BLOOD TYPE THING? Somebody clue me in so i don't have to keep flicking spiders off of her. All the stress from the spider flicking is also probably the REAL explanation as to why my diet is NOT WORKING......but that's another blog post.

Confession: Interpretations

2010-04-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

Confession: Sometimes when Mariah talks it sounds like she's speaking in Russian. In those moments I really wish I had taken the time to learned to speak Russian so we might have a chance at understanding each other.

Ranch Day

2010-04-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

While our chicken was becoming cat chow we were off enjoying a day at the Hamilton Ranch. Thanks Carol, Henry and family for the fun times!

Bonding Time

2010-04-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

In truth, he's holding that stick in the hopes that he will be able to mesmerize Hayden into staying still for 2 seconds while I snap a picture.

Life with Chicks: One Down

2010-04-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

Whelp, it has happened. The cats got one of the chickens and ate it for dinner while we were enjoying some time out with friends.

Before we left, knowing we would be gone for 2 or 3 hours I thought to myself, should I put these chickens back in their stinky box in the garage, or should I allow them the pleasure of a few more hours of fresh air?

Life Lesson #15: Better to spend a few extra hours in a stinky box than to become a cat snack.

Life with Chicks: Still Alive

2010-04-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

We've had the chickens for a few weeks now, and miraculously they're all still alive. I say "miraculously" because last week Hayden tried to play softball with them and almost broke one of their legs. I actually thought he broke it because the bird didn't move for a few days, but now I can't tell which one got hit, so I think they're all fine.

New House Rule: No playing catch with the birds.

That said, the chickens are easy to care for, and hardier than I thought. Hayden has been quite rough with them despite repeated time-outs, spankings and conversations about why we shouldn't be rough with the chicks i.e. "they will die!" I realized before I got them that it would be a challenge to keep them alive around Hayden. He doesn't have mean intent, but he really likes to play rough. What I didn't count on though was how badly they would smell. I now know why birds are called Fowl. The stench emanating from our garage at this time can be described using words such as: Special, Unbelievable, Disgusting, and FOWL. I never realized they could smell this badly. I gotta say I'm really looking forward to getting them out of the garage in into the farthest corner of the back yard so I don't have to vomit in my mouth every time i feed them. Even I who claim little to no sense of smell can smell more of these birds than I ever cared too.

I wish it had been possible to buy full grown egg layers. That would have made my life much easier. But I guess this way Hayden is "bonding" with them.

Conversations with a Three Year Old: Garbage

2010-03-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

Me: "Hayden, please pick up those raisins that you dropped on the floor and put them in the trash."

Hayden: "Okay!"

Me: "Where are the raisins?"

Hayden: "I put them in the trash can in my mouth."

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-03-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

Today we made an offer on a house we really wanted.....and within hours we got rejected and they picked somebody else. I thought i wasn't going to care if that happened, but it turns out i took so many pictures of this ugly old house trying to decide if we could fix it, that i somehow got emotionally attached. So instead of talking about how bummed I am, I'm going to show you some pictures of the Easter egg hunt we went to at our church on Saturday.

Conversations with a Three Year Old: Meals

2010-03-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

The Owl in the back is Hayden, the one in front is me, and no Karaoke during nap time is NOT MY THING.

Not only were we trying to accomplish nap time today while getting a new roof put on our house, but we were also interrupted by various things at 15 minute intervals for the first hour....i.e..bathroom, doorbell, doorbell, pounding...etc. ect. This conversation took place after we settled down again for the fourth attempt at a nap:

Hayden: "Mommy, can i have some breakfast?"

Me: "No, we just ate lunch."

Hayden: "I don't want lunch, I want breakfast."

Me: "You can have a snack after you take your nap."

Hayden: "OKAY!!!!!!!"

Me: After that I believe I admitted an audible growl, but i can't be sure.

He then spent the next 30 minutes poking my face, kicking the wall, and singing until Mariah finally woke up and miraculously he fell asleep.

Photo courtesy of Lolcats

House for Sale.....Again.

2010-03-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

We've finally bit the bullet and are trying to put our house up for sale again. It's been more than a year since our first attempt, and I have to admit I'm dreading it and have been for the entire year. In some ways it'll be nice to get this step of our lives over with so I can stop feeling like it's hanging around my neck with imminent strangleage (sound it out, and yes, i made that word up - take that spell check) about to take place.

Last year Mariah was a cranky baby, we had a realtor we weren't sure about, and a mortgage broker we were REALLY not sure about, and even a home inspector that we thought was pulling our leg a little. So, you can imagine when you put all those together along with the idea of purchasing a new home things might get a little hairy. Well they did. They got VERY VERY hairy, so we called it quits, took our house back off the market and then spent the next 12 months contemplating moving to Pennsylvania in order to be closer to family. There are several reasons why that didn't work out, but I'll save that for another post.

This year is different. We LOVE our Realtor, we TRUST our mortgage lender, and we've already dragged our feet so long that nobody could possibly be in this for quick money....i mean we're talking a year, that's a long time to wait for a commission.....sorry David. Next week we'll be putting our house on the market. We've already found a Money Pit that we can't pass up and are going to try and put on offer on. I'm not sure what it is about fixer uppers that attract me, but for some reason my heart falls hard for the orange painted trim, the early 90's decor, and the crusty paint covered rugs.

Conversations with a Three Year Old: Safety Gear

2010-03-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks Hayden has discovered that Mommy and Daddy have names. He tentatively calls me "Kari" from time to time, and asks me where "Helmut" is. I have to admit that while I laugh it off, I also find it very disturbing. Something about having my 3 year old son calling me "Kari" feels really weird.

After dinner we decided to go for a walk and let Hayden ride his bike to burn off some of his "bad" energy (trust me, it was REALLY BAD).

Helmut: "Hayden, please take your bike out of the garage."

Hayden: picking up is bike helmet, "Daddy, you have to help me put on this helmut first."

Helmet, helmut....same diff.

Confession: Poultry

2010-03-26T12:38:00.001-07:00

Confession: Every time the chickens fall asleep in the pen outside I think they're dead.....every time.

Diet Log: The Day After Day 5

2010-03-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

In case you're wondering what happened after I left you last night, I'm going to tell you. I finished typing my last few sentences about guilt and despair and was poised to lay in bed counting my extra rolls until sleep descended upon me when Helmut came in and literally pulled my leg until I got out of bed and went to work out with him in our garage.

Two and a half years ago we set up our garage as a home gym. We were ready to get fit, at home, in the luxury of our own garage...never mind that the temperature in there is 100+ degrees in the summer. Week 1 went stupendously, I was down a few pounds and feeling GREAT, week 2 I found out I was pregnant with Mariah. Week two day 2 was probably the last time we used that home gym. I spent the next 9 months laying on the couch in between outings with Hayden and after that, labor, back injury, and lots of sissy whining.....which brings us to last week.....

I was having lunch with a good friend from church when we got on the subject of blood type characteristics. After that discussion I went home and researched the Blood Type Diet. What I found was many many unhappy participants who said it was a joke, and had been dis-proven as a myth, blah blah blah, so when I found the actual official website I was ready to laugh my way through the blood type descriptions and scoff at anyone gullible enough to actually trust that kind of blather. DUN DUN DUN. Then I proceeded to read an incredibly accurate description of myself, so specific at times it was scary. It was in fact so accurate that upon reading it I was certain that my mother and myself must share a blood type....that is, type O. The next day I texted my parents who confirmed my suspicions.

One of the more important and constructive things I took out of it was that when I feel like I'm getting grouchy, to go exercise......which finally brings me to yesterday. We went to the garage, cleaned out the chicken's box, rigged up some special lighting for them, then I got on the elliptical trainer and did 1 full minute of intense cardio before realizing it was 11pm and I was exhausted, so I came back inside and went to bed. Anticlimactic i know, but at least i didn't cheat on my diet!

Diet Log: Day 5 Doldrums

2010-03-24T19:42:00.001-07:00

Yes, you read that title correctly. I'm back on the diet "horse." After taking a 6 month break....let's call it a break, I've finally gotten really REALLY sick of my waistline again. I tried starting up the diet about 6 weeks ago, and was doing so well I was just getting ready to blog about my triumphant 5 lb weight loss when we got invited over to a friends house for dinner. That doesn't sound terribly threatening....and indeed it wasn't until the hostess asked me to bring some Brie. Brrriiiieeeeee. Say that out loud in a breathy, sultry sort of voice. It's not as if I've never had brie before. In fact I'd had it several times and quite liked it each time. I guess I had never built up the temerity to buy it myself, and here someone was asking me to buy it and giving me an excuse to go looking for it. So i went to the grocery store and hunted until i found it, bought it, took it to the party, and enjoyed it on my crusty french bread along with some pretty spectacular Beef Bourguignon.

I happened to buy a whole extra cheese, so after the party the hostess handed me the extra cheese and I took it home and stuck it in the fridge. That was the beginning of a very indulgent 6 week love affair with brie. I'm not going to say how many wedges or different types of brie i tried in that time, because frankly it's embarrassing. Let's just say I'm trying to keep my grubby mitts away from the specialty cheese section until the last 10 lbs of weight are lost. Oh yeah, i gained back that whole 5 lbs in two weeks and added 2 more lbs before I finally realized that Brie slathered on french bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, is not diet friendly.

Today is day 5 back on the diet and I've definitely hit the 5th day slump. Day's 1 and 2 I was patting myself on the back as the pounds were flying off, day 3 I figured the scale needed a break, day 4 I was not excited about the stop in weight loss, but not depressed. Then I hit day 5. Day 5 seems to be a real deal breaker for me EVERY SINGLE TIME. Three days of an unrelenting scale have put a frown on my face and a small chip on my shoulder. I hate it when the scale is mean, and let's face it, it's the scales fault. It has NOTHING to do with my chocolate obsession. I'm supposed to be exercising right now, to try and budge the scale, but I've decided to write this instead to make myself feel really really ridiculous in front of people just in case I am tempted to cheat tonight....which I always am on Day 5. So there you go. If you don't get anymore diet updates for a while it's because I've cheated and I'm really embarrassed.

Pumpkin

2010-03-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

17 Months old, enjoying the park....and savoring the dirt.

The Rice and Beans Eating #FAIL

2010-03-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

I've put off writing this post for a while because I feel like a Rice and Beans participant failure. I was so excited about the possibilities this month was going to bring to our family, the solidarity, the fasting from the world, the fasting from all foods in the "junk" category. I never thought I'd be a push-over-giver-upper. I began preparing our family for a month of just rice, beans, and assorted vegetables in January. We don't normally eat beans, not because we don't like them, simply because I didn't know how to make them. So in January I got some bean making advice and started making them for dinner twice a week.

The first time I made them Hayden ardently declared his dislike and refused to eat any of them. At first I thought he was being spoiled and would eventually grow to love them.....given time....and hopefully before the two months was up. I was grossly mistaken. Not only does he still not love them, he can barely stomach them. That makes two whole foods that my 3 year old can't stand, Beans and BRUSSEL SPROUTS. Who knew beans could even be grouped in the same category as brussel sprouts?! I mean, that's like comparing them to cabbage juice....which really just tastes like broccoli. Gah, some vegetables are rank. I digress.

We've gone from spoon feeding him the beans, to threatening him with imminent discipline, to watching him gag, and finally a grand ending about 2 weeks ago where he threw up after dinner. That's when I threw in the towel. Instead of solidarity we were getting stress, complaints, confusion, and finally barf.

I haven't completely given up. Mariah LOVES beans, and Helmut also seems to like them, so I'm still making them two or three times a week. I'm already looking forward to next year and thinking of how I can do things differently in between now and then to smooth the transition for the kids.

I feel a tremendous amount of guilt about this whole process. I know if we didn't have any other food available to us Hayden would probably learn to like his beans....or at least appreciate their value.

In spite of quitting early I have taken a few lessons out of this challenge. I do think I use food as a crutch, and a comfort more than I realized I did. I often let my daily menu dictate my mood, and happiness factor. I constantly "reward" myself with edible treats and make up for daily losses in sanity with coffees, chocolates, or CHEESE (did I tell you about my recent love affair with Brie?) All practices that I hadn't realized that I was developing and hope to curb quickly. I don't think their is anything wrong with treating oneself once in a while...just maybe not as often or as extravagantly.

Picture courtesy of Lahash. For more info on what Rice and Beans month is click here. For more info on the people behind Rice and Beans click here.

Life with Chicks.....and by Chicks, I mean baby birds.

2010-03-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

Did I mention we got some chickens? Just in case I forgot, here are a few pictures of the six new additions to our household. They are currently taking up a few feet of our garage space, but will soon be taking up residence in the backyard.

Reasons for getting chickens:

1. Eggs

2. Pest Control....apparently they love to eat fire ants and other "pestilence."

3. I always wanted to have some chickens....I would probably also get a cow if I had experience milking one.....and while were at it lets throw in a pony, heck our back yard is pretty big.

4. Bug Allergy help - You all know how Mariah has a freakish bug bite allergy, where if left untreated the bites grow to the size of an oreo cookie, followed by insomnia and a wicked diaper rash. Last summer after a few of these instances we came across Apis Mellifica (a homeopathic treatment sold at health food stores), and our lives have been much less stressful. While this stuff works almost instantly on the bug bites I consider it a band-aid. I'm hoping that by eating the eggs of the chickens that are eating our bugs, she will be able to build up some kind of immunity.....if not, well then we'll just have plentiful free range organic eggs.

How to Make a Latte in 4 Minutes Flat

2010-03-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

While we were on vacation my younger brother introduced me to this puppy. The Bialetti Mukka Express. It's a stove top cappuccino maker that also happens to be able to produce a decent latte. As soon as we came home I looked it up and took off to my local Williams-Sonoma to buy one. I'm convinced it will save me money in the long run, and if not at least I'll be able to drink my latte without having to drive somewhere to get it.

Since we're on the subject of Lattes I would like to send some negativity in the general direction of Starbucks. Starbucks, if you're reading this, for heavens sakes please make the bottle tops of your bottled lattes smaller. What the heck are you trying to pull using a humongous bottle top??? The only thing it accomplishes is to make me look like a moron while drinking. I either have to open my mouth uncomfortably wide to keep it from spilling, or take little sips while the top rim dribbles coffee on my nose. I have seriously avoided buying said lattes for that reason. Also: your coffee is too bitter. Roasted to burntfection.

Friends with Kids

2010-03-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

Christina and I with our arms full of babies...and more to come (on Christina's end that is:)

Going Riding

2010-03-10T19:57:00.000-08:00

Waiting for Grandma to get the horse ready.

Vacation Rants

2010-03-08T19:31:00.000-08:00

Our mish mash winter clothing compiled of hand-me-downs and that crazy coat i bought 9 years ago in Austria.

Last night we returned from spending two weeks with my family up in Pennsylvania. That means two 4 hour airplane rides, 2 rides of 3 hours in the car, and 2 times we made it through airport security. Having just spent two weeks daily consuming my body weight in chocolate and whoopie pies, my thoughts are a little sugared out and uninspired. All this is due to change this week though as we embark on our Rice and Beans diet, and quit the sugar, caffeine, and whatever else completes our being for the remainder of the month of March.

That stated, let's talk airport security. Is it really necessary for my babies to remove their jackets and shoes to go through the beepy door? I mean, are we worried that they might be armed? or maybe hiding a switchblade in their shoes? Seriously, last time I allowed my toddler to carry a concealed weapon in his jacket I SPECIFICALLY told him he wasn't allowed to take it on an airplane. I'm all for safety, but i think we might be overdoing it.

Hayden, his Uncle Cody, and Maya watching a movie.

As for the plane rides, Hayden angelically watched movies, ate snacks and played educational iphone games (really really educational.....as in he now knows all of his letters), and Mariah treated both flight's passengers to random scream fests, a few tantrums, a horrendous display of baby savagery where she scratched, kicked and bit me, and ended both flights with a shrug and some cute smiles.....Did I mention how she also covered every available surface with cracker crumbs, sticky goo, and toasted pumpkin seeds?......Sorry stewardesses. At least this trip didn't involve any explosive poops.

Vacation

2010-03-07T20:55:00.001-08:00

I have lots to say about our vacation, and more pictures than I know what to do with, but I'm so exhausted right now I'm not completely sure if I'm typing this update in my twitter account, facebook status or the actual blog. I hope it's the blog, because it would make a much too lengthy - TMI - status update.

More to come after I've had some sleep.

New Camera

2010-02-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

My birthday was two weeks ago, and since I think I've learned as much as the little 3 mega pixel camera in my iphone can teach me, I asked Helmut to get me a real camera as my birthday gift. He did as promised and allowed me to have my pick. The first one I got was a Fuji 10 mega pixel point and click digital camera. The pictures were just okay, but not much of an improvement from my iphone, so last night amidst much kicking and screaming (Hayden AND Mariah), lots of shredded paper (Mariah), and an iphone game distraction (Hayden), we managed to pick out a Nikon DX 3000. We did not do research, and we had LOTS of distractions so we're both really hoping this camera lives up to the price tag. It was 550$ at Best Buy, so it was the cheapest of all the much more professional looking cameras. This morning I took the kids to the park to try it out and have to say I'm liking it. Of course I have no more experience than a person whose taken 1,200 pictures with an iphone, so i really feel like a poser.....or the paparazzi. It reminds me of Julia Roberts cell phone in My Best Friends Wedding. The following are my three favorite pictures before the battery died....which was about 15 minutes and 15 photos. Next time I should probably try charging it first.

I should also probably properly clean my child's face before our next photo shoot. *guffaw*

Conversations with a Three Year Old: Spanish

2010-02-16T21:30:00.001-08:00

Helmut: "Hayden, dejame ponerte la playera."

Hayden: "No No, don't talk to me in backwards."

The Entertainer

2010-01-28T22:30:00.001-08:00

Is it too early to start teaching her to play? I think not.

Guilty Pleasures

2010-01-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year Helmut and I decided to buy a joint gift for each other and the family. Since we don't have cable or TV, but we do have the fastest internet that money can buy (thanks to Helmut being a web geek) we got ourselves a small black plastic box that plays Netflix, Blu ray discs, and a bunch of other stuff that you shouldn't ask me about (because I don't know).

This allows us to watch Netflix directly from the web on streaming video.....or a bunch of other such words that I don't really understand. Netflix and I have a rather informal relationship. Since we've had the streaming video option, we've become rather intimately acquainted. It knows my likes, and dislikes. It frequently suggests I watch videos implying that I will absolutely adore them.....all based on it's rating system of course. I've rated about 100 videos from best to worst and now they've got my number.

A week ago I was on Netflix looking for some new videos to add to my list when i noticed this series from BBC that it insisted I had to watch. Normally I don't bother with TV shows, but since it was so positive I would love it.....to the tune of 5 whopping stars, i decided to give it a try. Yesterday's post was inspired by this past week of activity following the submergence into this new show.....So you must be wondering what it's about, let me sum it up for you:

Beautiful Scottish countryside
A Castle
Bagpipes
Secret Passageways
Scottish Accents
Amusing characters
LOADS of Charm

Okay, I'm a grandma, but whatever, I can't stop watching. I'm so addicted I can barely peel myself away do anything. Lucky for me there are only 5 seasons.

It's called "Monarch of the Glen."

10 Clues that You've Been Watching Too Much TV

2010-01-26T19:53:00.000-08:00

1. You're on a first name basis with more cartoon characters than your kids are.

2. You find yourself utilizing the cracks in the couch as temporary trash receptacles.

3. Roughly 75% of your meals are eaten on the sofa in spite of the fact that the kitchen table is in the same room and located only 5 feet further from the TV.

4. Dinner conversation revolves around the latest reality tv show....and facebook.

5. a.You find yourself singing the theme song to: Dora, Thomas and Friends, Sesame Street and Curious George while cleaning.
b. you find yourself singing harmonies to the songs while they're playing.
c. you rewrite the lyrics for fun.

6. You relate life lessons to your child with frequent references to cartoon characters.

7. Going the get the mail is a huge ordeal and/or the biggest outing of the day.

8. Nothing EVER gets done.

9. You gain 20lbs without realizing it.

10. You're more concerned with Conan O'brien's carrier options than your own.

The Workout Plan and Incidental Extras

2010-01-23T12:56:00.000-08:00

Last week I went to the gym twice to attend some yoga classes for my back....and that's where my plan for self induced physical therapy met a road block. Both children and myself came down with colds after the second attendance and ended up staying home sick all of the second week.

Our sicknesses hit a peak a couple of days ago, when during the night Mariah woke up and cried and thrashed for two hours, I ran a low grade fever, and Hayden spent the night coughing and waking repeatedly. The next afternoon (which i think was yesterday.....but i've lost all track of time) my vitamins for the kids came in the mail and after 1 day on them we're all feeling much better, but not before yesterday's mishap.

When I was a little kid....aged 6, I witnessed a school mate having a nose bleed. I remember vividly freaking out quietly inside my head (because i was really shy) and thinking his brain was bleeding out his nose. Years later after being married to my wonderful husband for about 4 years, i found out that he too is afflicted by the infrequent nose bleed. VERY infrequent apparently because in our then 9 years of acquaintance and marriage i had never before witnessed one....which brings me to yesterday:

We had been hanging around the house, playing inside, watching cartoons and generally taking it easy when i decided everyone looked well enough for a walk to the mailbox. I asked Hayden if he wanted to ride his bike, to which he promptly said "YES." I then proceeded to use the restroom, change out of my pj's and fix my rat's nest (ugh, i mean hair) while he followed me around whining repeatedly that he wanted to "ride his bike." I was trying to keep my mouth shut and not explode from all the whining, so i didn't say anything. Instead I kept getting dressed. The next thing i knew he was standing in front of me with blood pouring out of his nose. I sat him on the sink and tried not to let my utter horror, worry and panic show on my face as i tried to hold a towel to his nose. He responded the way any strong willed 3 year old boy would: by screaming really loudly and thrashing about. I tried to get him to put his head back....because isn't that what you're supposed to do?! But he refused, kept screaming and the blood kept pouring out like Niagara falls. So i did what i thought would be best and made him lay down on the counter. That made everything 1000% worse, because now not only was he screaming and thrashing, but the blood was going down his throat and choking him and he was coughing it out of his mouth. Right about then i wanted to faint into a dead sleep and not wake up until the issue had resolved itself, but realizing that if I did Mariah would have time to consume that entire deodorant that she was munching on while we were having our little wrestling match i decided not too. Instead I finally got some sense in my head, pulled Hayden into my lap and sat on the counter hugging him, holding a towel to his nose, and explaining amidst the crying that "this is okay and it happens to daddy when he's sick too."

I'm not going to lie, seeing that much blood come out of my son was terrifying. He's a rough boy and is constantly covered in scratches, cuts and bruises from playing, but this was decidedly different. I now realize that I had better do a little research on nose bleeds so that next time it happens I won't feel so panicked. Kids can sense that stuff no matter how little of it shows up on our faces....at least mine can. Which brings me to:

Life Lesson #14 (approx.): Research hereditary illness before it shows up in your kids, so when it does make an appearance you'll know how to deal with it appropriately and without fear.....or at least panic.

Blogging for Posterity

2010-01-20T19:42:00.000-08:00

Usually when I see adds on the sides of website pages I ignore them. In fact, most of the time I have blocked them out so efficiently that i don't even notice that they're there. This also affects my ability to notice normal human signs....like the one hanging over the toilet that says: "out of order," but today i noticed a small advertisement on the side of my blog that completely sucked me in.

A website that prints your entire blog in book form. WOW. NOW I CAN HAND MY BLOG DOWN TO MY KIDS AND GRAND KIDS. Generations of Granda's can see the goofy stuff I've written. YAY. Okay, I know I'm getting a little carried away, but i was hoping something like this would come along so i could keep a copy of my ramblings for Hayden and Mariah to read someday when they have trouble with their kids, because by that point i will have completely lost my mind and be of no help to them anymore. You will find me standing in the corner trying to muffle my laughter while their kids hurl themselves on the floor and throw tantrums, run away, fling food on the walls, scream, wipe cake all over their faces, step in poopy diapers, scream some more, and bring a level of chaos to life that they never thought possible. <---------all this from a woman who loves kids and tells every married couple they should have a baby....you should have a baby, seriously it'll change your life for the better.

Here is the website that I found : Sharedbook.com

If you know of a better website leave a comment and tell me about it!

Tiny Texan

2010-01-16T20:30:00.001-08:00

Texan, born and bred (kinda).

Thanks Aunt Becky for the cool new cowboy boots.

Visitor

2010-01-14T19:15:00.000-08:00

Hayden and Mariah's favorite outdoor companion, "Fake" Jack.

The Gym

2010-01-11T19:27:00.000-08:00

After I had Mariah I developed a bulging disc in my lower back which caused me 3 months of unbearable agony and then another 3 months of less dramatic pain before finally healing. Since then I've re injured it 3 times....one time fairly recently where it took a week to re heal. After much google supplied research and a few conversations with friends I decided that the best way to fix this issue and only way to really prevent it from happening again was to start doing yoga and Pilate's a couple of times a week. So far everything I've found suggests that as the only possible non surgical solution, and as I am VERY anti back surgery (it comes with extremely bad odds, very bad reviews and heck, I'm a total hippie when it comes to medicating, surgery, etc.) I'm going with it.

Today was Day 1 of my new stretched out lifestyle. I pushed myself hard to get the kids ready and out of the house by 10am and down to the YMCA. I dropped off Mariah who screamed and cried huge crocodile tears and ushered Hayden into his class where he nervously joined the other kids playing with trains, and took my very very guilty self off for a few hours of therapeutic yoga.

I'm aware that since my kids aren't used to being babysat very much they are often tentative, semi-unhappy and sometimes scream for a few minutes in the beginning when we leave them with strangers. With that in mind this morning I packed a half-full carton of raisins and a sippy cup for Mariah to be used by the staff as a consolation bribe, should the crying exceed 2 or 3 minutes.

I came back from Yoga 90 minutes later to find Mariah playing with the empty raisin container. I picked her up and started putting on her jacket, politely asking the girl behind the counter how she had done. The words she spoke struck a certain amount of horror into my being:

"The raisins really helped with the crying, she ate like the whole thing."
(lets say 6-8 adult servings)

Holy frijoles woman are you kidding me?! You fed her the WHOLE THING?! Do you have any idea what happens when you feed babies raisins??????? My gosh I though a small handful would suffice. That's what I should have said, instead what came out was freaked out eyes, an awkward smile and a nice "thank you."

Three hours and one nap time later Hayden and I were the unhappy witnesses of a pooped up bed, pants, shirt, and a diaper full of whole undigested raisins. It didn't end there either. A few hours later....more raisins.

I haven't been a fan of eating raisins since I was a little kid, but now I am even less so. In fact, I'm fairly certain it will be years if not decades before i put another raisin in my mouth. When leaving a snack for you child with a caregiver, give implicit directions on how they are to administer it. Lesson Learned.

Cats Welcome

2010-01-09T20:56:00.001-08:00

Cat Village

Finally a good usage for all those unused moving boxes.

Last year we decided we had outgrown out little house and started looking for something bigger. We packed up all our extra stuff and put it in the garage, then put our house on the market. LOTS AND LOTS of drama later, we took our house off the market and decided to wait for a while. We have yet to re list it.

Dream Crusher

2010-01-07T19:58:00.000-08:00

You might be wondering what happened with my sewing projects or more specifically the baby boots. For a while there I was a sewing maniac. I had morphed the original boot pattern into something wonderful that i think people might actually buy instead of scoff at, and then i began looking for a more durable type of fleece.....and that's where i ended. Not because a more durable type of fleece is impossible to come by, but because according to the CPSIA JKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ regulations, fleece is banned. Only materials that are natural (cotton, wool, etc) are allowed to be used without being tested. So if you know anyone who would be willing to put wool boots on their babies, send me an email.

Admission

2010-01-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

I should probably clarify something from the last post. My vanity is very small......meaning I really only have a small amount of readers and I get depressed if even 1 person is missing for the day....okay, maybe not "depressed" but i shuffle around looking at the ground for a while wondering why i have to write such a silly blog.

So before you start getting blog envy and boycotting my blog thinking i have thousands of readers, you should know my entire happiness depends on each of you coming and reading everyday....no pressure.

Spying on Your Readers 101

2010-01-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

Hello Internet. I've missed you old friend. I know it's been a while. Lets just say I wanted to take a holiday vacation, but I'm back now so let's get right down to it:

Instead of writing about something you all probably want to hear about, like what it's like taking a 3 year old and a 1 year old on an 8-10 hour drive to Mexico and back, or how we brought in the New Year amidst very questionable machine gun fire, or how many tacos i was able to consume in 6 days, I'm going to write about something off the wall. Something I noticed happening with increasing rapidity while i was gone: How many woman got duped by the target brand pregnancy test during Christmas.

If you blog and have any vanity at all you probably have some sort of analytics program set up. I'd like to say I'm "above" this, but sadly its not true. I revel in the amounts of readers I get, and feel like a rejected loser when nobody comes around. For those of you unfamiliar with what an analytics program does, it tells you how many people came and read your blog, where they came from, and if they return....it does not give names and addresses so you can stop sweating. Three reasons I have this program:

1. My vanity
2. My vanity
3. So i can make sure my blog and pictures don't get used in a profane way somewhere on the Internet.

It's for this reason that I noticed a sudden rise in popularity over the holidays. Suddenly without trying i became an overnight Internet sensation....okay, not really. It turns out the holidays are a good time to take a pregnancy test.....and also a good time to freak out about it. For once it wasn't me doing the freaking out.

I realized today that Mariah is now older than Hayden was when I got pregnant the second time....I should also tell you that I held a very adorable 3 day old baby last week.....I looked dreamily into her sweet little face and thought "I can definitely do this again...." while Hayden and Mariah smashed her little toys and screamed in the background.

Woolen Nightmare

2009-12-23T21:37:00.001-08:00

Beware: This is what happens when you wash wool in hot water and then throw it in the dryer. These used to be Helmut and my size sweaters.

Shopping Carts that Save Lives

2009-12-19T13:28:00.000-08:00

Hayden's Birthday

2009-12-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

I was going to make a post about Hayden's birthday with tons of pictures of the party and everything that followed, but my actual camera isn't working and I keep getting the beach ball of doom when I try to upload the pictures to my computer. So instead I'm going to give you this picture with Hayden riding his birthday present, and a little explanation of our day.

Saturday we had a party for Hayden at an indoor play place, which was really fun and he had a great time. It was a morning party which meant me dragging myself across the floor and plunking in the car, forgetting to put on my make-up (which FYI is pretty embarrassing when you already look half asleep because you ARE ACTUALLY half asleep). When we got there I gulped down large amounts of coffee and SOSed my friend to bring me make-up, but unfortunately she didn't get the message....The coffee worked wonders though and I quickly forgot my ugly face and had a great time too. I'm not absolutely positive, but I'm fairly certain I didn't stop talking until we left 2.5 hours later, at which point I caught myself rambling about absolutely nothing to Helmut in the car on the way home and finally stopped.

Hayden just happens to share the same birthday as another girl in our church. Last year we didn't have a party for Hayden, but we attended a party for this little girl on his actual birthday. It was almost like having a party for him but with her getting all the gifts. Ghetto? I think not. It's AWESOME. This year she came to our party in the morning, then we attended hers in the evening. I should also mention that at last year's party Hayden was AWFUL, and I was so depressed (PPD) that I almost cried in front of everyone at least 25 times.

This year was completely different. Hayden was a changed kid. He played all the games, followed instructions, sat in a chair like a real human being, and ate his cake with a fork instead of smashing it all over his face. I was so proud my face was shining like the sun and I couldn't stop smiling. I felt so happy I was able to do what I do best: give out lots of unsolicited advice.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean I've forgotten last weeks "runaway incident." In fact I think I'm permanently scarred from that. I'm going to need therapy to get past it....and a masseuse, turns out carrying a 40 lb kid on one hip and pushing a stroller while shooting laser beams from your eyes and having steam from your white hot rage coming out your ears does bad things to your back. I haven't been able to sit comfortably for a week.

Conversations with a Three Year Old: Men

2009-12-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

Me: "hehe, look it's a macho man." ----->
(pointing to a man with tattoos, a muscle car and loudly playing music).

Hayden: "A nacho man?.....

Oh a macho man tehehe.....................

NO! It's a SPACE MAN.

Don't ask me how he knows what a macho man is, I promise I've never used that word in front of him before.

Image courtesy of www.joefuda.com

Conversations with a Three Year Old: Goodies

2009-12-12T17:36:00.001-08:00

Me: "Hayden, NO MORE candy."

Hayden: (pulling out a lollipop) "Okay, OKAY...this is the last time."

The Story

2009-12-10T21:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm ready to tell what happened. You'll probably laugh when you read this and think what a sissy I am for freaking out so much, but here you go:

We went to the park to enjoy some of the nice weather. While we were there some kids came along and showed Hayden a little snake they had caught. It was really cute and Hayden was enthralled. He proceeded to follow them around the park mimicking things they did and said, climbing whatever they climbed and chasing them whenever they would run away. I sat on the park bench next to Mariah, who was munching snacks in the stroller, and thought how adorable and outgoing he was.

Then one of the kids decided to leave. She started walking across the park to the basketball courts and soon after the other kids followed her, including Hayden. There is a large expanse of grass between the park and the basketball courts, followed by a small expanse of grass and the exit. The whole park is fenced in and only has 3 exits. It's about 2 acres. Once he got to the basketball courts I hollered at him to come back. I'm not sure why I thought he would listen, that was my first mistake. Then he ran to the farthest exit, still following the kids. I hollered much MUCH louder thinking surely he wouldn't actually follow them out of the park, that was my second mistake. Soon he had exited the park barely giving me a backward glace as I screamed at him to come back (literally screamed, in fact I'm pretty sure the whole county heard me). By this time I had thrown his tricycle into the back of the stroller buckled Mariah in and was running full speed across the park screaming for one of the kids to grab him before he got away. I could no longer see him as he had run past some houses that were blocking my view and continued down the street amidst traffic. I left Mariah stranded in the stroller at the side of the park and ran down the street to where one of the kids had caught him and was holding him down. I grabbed him and carried him back to the park to get Mariah, all the while fuming and ranting about how naughty he had been.

It was a long LONG walk home. I often marvel how when I am at my breaking point with him, God inserts a long walk or a long drive to help me cool off before I have to discipline him. I did spank him for it, and I was still a little angry, but not nearly as angry as I was before a 1/2 mile hike pushing a stroller with one hand and carrying him with the other.

So that's it. I'm still traumatized and haven't taken him to the park again....or even on a walk. So now not only are we not going shopping together, but we are not going ANYWHERE, AND I'm seriously considering pre-school. I'm not sure how much more of the constant daily naughty stuff I can take before I lose my mind.

Noteworthy

2009-12-08T21:38:00.000-08:00

It has been raining quite a bit here the past week so we've been staying in the house. This afternoon it stopped raining and the sun came out, so I decided to take advantage of it and take the kids to the park.....and that's where I have to stop, because the story that follows is still so traumatizing to me that I can't write about it. I thought I could, but i can't. You should know: everybody is okay, and nothing truly bad happened, just some of Hayden's antics that scared me out of my wits. I'll tell you tomorrow.

In less dramatic news, today marks the first day that Hayden voluntarily played by himself in his room with the door shut. Up until today he has never wanted to be out of my site or play by himself, but he finally realized that the only way he'll be able to build a train track that lasts long enough for him to drive a train on, thanks to Mariah, will have to be done in private. He played in there for about half an hour and all I could think of was how quiet it was in the house. I hope this will be the first a many peaceful afternoon play times. I did read that the closer a child gets to their 3rd birthday, the more their imagination takes off and they begin to play better alone. I guess he's right on schedule.

Confession

2009-12-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

Hello, my name is Kari and I'm a sewingaholic. It's been 3 weeks since I've seen the light of day. Just kidding. It hasn't gotten that bad yet. I have spent the past 3 nights sewing continuously until midnight. Who knew sewing could become an obsession? I just wish the stuff I was laboring hours and hours on actually looked cute.....or fit somebody. The first dress I tried to make turned out disgustingly awful. I'm tempted to make Mariah wear it anyway just because it took so much work, but it is truly hideous....I blame the pattern, clearly it doesn't have anything to do with my lack of sewing prowess. The second dress I attempted took me 5 hours to make and actually turned out stinking cute....if only it wasn't 3 sizes too big. Oh well, maybe it will fit next summer.

I've been meaning to get an Etsy store set up this week, but got a little side tracked on the dresses. I'm still working on perfecting the boots and at the rate I'm going they'll be absolutely perfect just in time for summer. wah wah wah. I found out too late that since the government passed all those manufacturing laws last year on what you can and can't use for children's clothing/garments, that I can't use buttons on them as decorations. I'm going to design my own flower pattern and use those instead I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Anybody have any ideas for other alternate decorations for them?

P.S. Hayden's 3rd Birthday is this weekend and we're having a party on Saturday for him. If you haven't gotten an invite email me! I couldn't find everyone's email addresses and have lost the ability to write with a pen.

P.P.S I know the picture at the top totally makes me look like a grandma.
Image courtesy of heartsandhome

Christmas Spectacular

2009-12-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

Decorating for Christmas with little kids is so much more fun and exciting than decorating by ourselves was. I was moved to tears several times just seeing how excited Hayden got over the Christmas tree (and not just because I'm PMSing....okay, probably mostly for that reason). I put the Christmas lights on the tree, we plugged them in and for the next hour Hayden ran around the house exclaiming "Happy Christmas!" to everyone and everything, including his stuffed cat. Then he sat down on the floor in front of the tree and said, "it's wonderful," in hushed tones. It was so sweet I completely forgot the hot chocolate throwing incident from yesterday and the unwrapped toilet paper filled bathroom incident from this morning.

This afternoon I made some sugar cookie dough with visions of him and I bonding over a fun activity. Something new and exciting that we had never done before. I imagined how I would role out the dough for him and he would use the cookie cutters to make cute little shapes, then together we would place them into the oven while exchanging secretive smiles. I think I failed to remember that he is only two. That was probably my first mistake. Maybe that dream works with a 5 or 6 year old....who knows I'm not there yet. What actually happened was more like this:

Me: "Hayden, let me role the dough and then you can cut the shapes...."

Hayden: "Can I have a bite?"

Me: "No, we're going to cut shapes and then bake them and eat the cookies."

Hayden: "Can I have a bite now?" (reaching...)

Me: "No, just wait!"

Hayden: "I WANT A BITE!" (reaching and grabbing)

Me: "Put that back! wait till we cut shapes!"

Hayden: "I want another bite."

Me: "How about we cut shapes?"

Hayden: "BITE, BITE, BITE, BITE!"

Me: (sneaking a bite for myself), NO!..............................okay.

It ended with me frantically cutting shapes so there would at least be some cookies, while Hayden gobbled his weight in cookie dough and plain flour. I guess we're just a cookie dough eating kind of family.

Unless you want to be very stressed out, annoyed and have your little imaginary dream shattered I'd say It's always better to go into activities with a 2 year old without any preconceived ideas of how it will go. Lesson Learned.

Abuelito

2009-12-01T21:31:00.001-08:00

This is Helmut's dad (Abuelito) with the kids right after they woke up from a nap....Hayden has on his super grumpy face unfortunately.

What's for Dinner

2009-12-01T21:24:00.001-08:00

Mexican food, prepared by Helmut's mom. From top left working clockwise: Corn Tortillas, Carnitas (because Helmut can't remember the name), Queso, Salsa Verde, and Pico de gallo.

The In-Laws

2009-12-01T21:20:00.001-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving weekend in Mexico visiting Helmut's parents. This is a view of their house, which Helmut's dad built mostly by himself.

The Sites Upon Leaving the Grocery Store

2009-11-25T20:37:00.001-08:00

Which one is mine?

The Day I that Nothing Got Done (Unless Random Vacuuming Counts)

2009-11-24T22:54:00.000-08:00

The past few days I've been feeling a bit under the weather. A whole bunch of weird stomach trouble and some pain and nausea, and then some more pain and blah blah blah it's really boring. I've been spending all my spare time laying around the house on whichever horizontal surface is the closest to where the kids are playing. Mostly floors....but when I'm lucky, the couch. As you might guess in all my laying around nothing has gotten done. Not a single thing....except dinner that one night. There are piles of laundry so high that at any given moment we may experience an avalanche and you may never hear from me again....not to mention the stack of dishes that await me in the sink.

This afternoon I was feeling a bit better and decided to make some headway in the massive amounts of cleaning that need to happen in order to make this house livable. As soon as the kids went down for their naps I dug in and started organizing and cleaning stuff. About 5 minutes into my cleanup the doorbell rang.....sending shivers down my spine.

I'm not sure why our house is a target for door-to-door salesmen and Jehovah's Witnesses. I try to make it look as inhospitable as possible. I've even contemplated leaving a sign outside that say's "Uninvited guests are UNWELCOME, if you proceed to ring the doorbell and wake a sleeping child I will toss one of a dozen dirty diapers at your head..." or something equally unfriendly but I'm too afraid to put off the neighbors or our actual friends by it. That said I turn people away weekly. I always feel terrible and very guilty for not buying whatever they're selling, and I've told the JW's multiple times that we're Christians, but they keep coming back. So when the doorbell rings I usually get nervous, have sweaty palms and hesitate to answer it wondering if I just pretend I'm not home if maybe they'll go away.

So this afternoon I went to answer the door, ready to face the incredibly awkward situation that inevitably follows such an excursion only to find a vacuum cleaner salesman. He went through the usual spiel to which I repeatedly shook my head no and tried to close the door. That's when it happened....

Vacuum cleaner salesman: "but Miss, if you let us do our presentation not only will we shampoo your carpet for FREE, but we'll get to go on a trip to Las Vegas! You can help us do this!"

Me: "So if i let you shampoo my carpet for free, you'll get to go to Las Vegas?"

VCS: "Yes, we have to do a certain amount of presentations for this company and then they will give us a paid trip to Las Vegas."

Me: "How many presentations do you have to do?"

VCS: " (long pause) 24."

Me: "Okay, but I promise I'm NOT GOING TO BUY THE VACUUM."

VCS: "That doesn't matter, all we have to do is the presentation, it only takes 20-30 minutes."

Me: "Okay (grudgingly opening the door)."

I let them come in gleefully imagining how the carpet would sparkle after they shampooed it for FREE not knowing i was signing away the next 2 hours of my life to watching a vacuum cleaning demonstration. That's right, TWO HOURS. By the end of it I had stopped watching and started doing the dishes and making dinner. I felt bad, REALLY I did, but my kids were starving and my kitchen was a mess and what kind of vacuum takes 2 hours to demonstrate?

One the up side of this the girl doing the demonstration was really nice. I did enjoy talking to her quite a bit and hope that she does well in college....and no it wasn't my gabbing that kept her so long, her vacuum broke. *Guffaw*

And to answer the unanswered question that's floating around in your mind from the first paragraph, no I am absolutely NOT PREGNANT....I took another test just to be sure.

An Epic Journey

2009-11-23T20:49:00.000-08:00

MARIAH CAN WALK!! MARIAH CAN WALK!!

Okay, so I know 13 months isn't record breaking or anything, but for some reason I'm more excited about Mariah walking than I can remember being when Hayden took his first steps. Maybe it helps a little that she went from only crawling to walking as if she's been able to do it for a long time and has been hiding it from us all. So I've decided to dedicate this post to shameless bragging. Normally I try hard to hold back because frankly, when people brag incessantly about their children's accomplishments it tends to make me want to vomit. A little bragging is okay, multiple daily brags however are overkill. No, I'm not bitter about anything, stop giving me the evil eye, you've all felt the same way, just admit it! I digress.

This momentous occasion took first took place on Saturday and totally made up for the fact that i had spent all night Friday spewing my guts out (for lack of better words). I am most excited about taking her to the park to play now, because she will no longer have to crawl around in the dirt....and hopefully that will also mean she will find less cigarette butts to chew on.

Conversations with a Two Year Old: Cars

2009-11-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

Hayden: "Look Mommy, what's that?" (pointing to a Volkswagen Beetle)

Me: "That's a car."

Hayden: "No Mommy, that's a RACE CAR!

Me: "?!?!?!"

Mater face

2009-11-18T15:53:00.001-08:00

Look closely at the face of the little car...

The Silent Motivator

2009-11-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

I should preface this post by saying I accidentally consumed a large amount of caffeine a few hours ago and have spent the last two hours talking to anyone that would talk to me, text me, instant message me or even look in my general direction. I'm also contemplating a midnight run (even though I loath running as a form of exercise) and thinking about doing some Pilate's....it's time to get my abs back.

That said:

I went out for coffee with a friend tonight. We meet weekly to talk about our ups and downs of the week and pray for each other. Since I've been on a diet I've been making this my bonus night where I am allowed to drink something "special" from the coffee shop menu. I usually stick to decaf tea or hot chocolate, but tonight I was feeling risky. I decided to go for a non-fat, DECAF, caramel macchiatto.....and while you're at it give me a medium, it's a better value. I think it was about halfway through our 1 hour meeting that I realized they accidentally messed up the decaf part. All the sudden I was talking nonstop at a speed I didn't know was possible, completely unable to stop the flow of words that were coming out of my mouth. I could even feel my face getting hotter (probably because my mouth was moving so fast). We wrapped up our meeting and I literally skipped and twitched my way out of there and drove home, where I chatted off Hayden's ear and made small talk with Mariah until I realized it was way past there bed time.

I wonder if I'll ever sleep tonight. Now would probably be a good time to give the house a thorough cleaning.

Boots in Progress

2009-11-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's about time that I show you what I've been up too. These are some pictures of the boots I've been trying to figure out how to make. I've revised them from the original pattern about 4 times and I still think they need some more revising before they could be sell-able. What do you think? Opinions? I would LOVE [read: tolerate] constructive criticism. As you can see Mariah wasn't to happy about getting her picture taken this morning, so that's the reason for the random shots of a mini baby tantrum....

Tantrum Week and the End of my Sanity

2009-11-14T20:04:00.000-08:00

I don't want you to get the wrong idea and think all I do is complain about my kid's tantrums.....but seriously. SERIOUSLY. This has been a bad week for tantrums. I have also made a secret pact with myself not to take the kids shopping again for a long looooong time. I know i make this pact with myself weekly, but this time I really mean it.....at least until we need groceries again. Our last trip to the grocery store was a nightmare of horrendousness that I have since blocked from my memory and now I can't even tell you what happened. I just remember distinctly that it was BAD....oh wait, yes i remember how it ended: with Hayden laying on the floor in the vitamin isle as Mariah screamed and writhed in my arms, while I desperately tried to ask an associate where they kept the teething tablets.

Since then we have been to the store again only twice, both times we went to the fabric store to feed my ever expanding addiction to sewing....yes, i'm still doing it, I'm obsessed. Before you know it I'll be teaching 4H classes and making my own slip covers. The first time wasn't so bad, both kids behaved pretty reasonably and we made it out with most of our dignity. The second time I hoped would go like the first....especially since we were going to be meeting friends there. Now, maybe I just lack in the patience arena...that's very possible, but for whatever reason I had almost lost my mind by the time Hayden begged to go to the potty for the 5th time in less than 30 minutes. I won't go into detail...because it's painful....but let's just say we got out with much less of our dignity than I had hoped.

In other news, I've taken to growling like a bear when angered and the kids have picked up on it. They both think it's hilarious and Mariah frequently imitates me. I'm sorta glad they don't realize how angry I am when I'm doing it, hearing little giggles helps me to diffuse.

Shoes

2009-11-12T20:32:00.000-08:00

I was going to use tonight's post to show you my shoe sewing progress, but when i got all my ugly little shoes together and tried to set them up to take pictures Hayden woke up from his nap, threw a colossal tantrum and I decided in order to avoid further tantrums I would lure him into a good mood by taking him to the park.

So far I've had absolutely no luck with the shoes. They're so ugly I can't even give them away. I did make some boots that turned out pretty cute....well, not the first pair. I'm not sure if I'll ever figure out how to make them cute enough to sell, but I am excited about giving them out as baby gifts. Tune in tomorrow for some pictures.....because I'm pretty sure you've been waiting your whole entire life to see a bunch of pictures of gag worthy shoes.

Baby Shoes and Why Target Brand Pregnancy Tests are the Devil

2009-11-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have been neglecting my blog. I have been sewing shoe after shoe in the attempt to figure out how to use my sewing machine and make a baby shoe that is actually wearable. There are little brown shoes littering the living room floor and not a single one of them even fits Mariah....not to mention how NOT cute they are. Apparently my sewing skillz leave something to be desired. I am learning though, and having a surprising amount of fun doing it. I've never considered myself to be "crafty," in fact, years of motherly encouragement and repeated attempts to even LIKE knitting had me giving up on myself, but i'm realizing that sewing is completely different and for some reason that i can't put my finger on i'm actually liking it.

In other news that deserves to be written about, I almost found out I was pregnant on Thursday. I had been feeling really tired for a few days, and add to that a few other unmentionable symptoms and rather than sweat it out I decided to take a pregnancy test....not to mention how much I enjoy peeing on sticks. If those things were cheaper I would buy piles of them just for the pure enjoyment of taking random pregnancy tests. I'm not sure where this fascination comes from, I hope for Mariah's sake it's not genetic. Off to target I went and bought myself a box of pregnancy tests. I should mention that I didn't really think I was pregnant....I mean, the possibility was there, but lets say it was only 2.3%. We have been unbelievable careful since Mariah was born, shell shocked into not wanting another baby just yet.

We put the kids to bed, then I took the test and sat there waiting for my answer. Two minutes later I was still sitting there, staring at the test window and trying to decide if a very very verrrry faint line was a mistake or if I could actually be pregnant. These things don't lie right?? I've read it's almost impossible to get a false positive, but HOW IN THE WORLD COULD I POSSIBLY BE PREGNANT?! I followed that performance with two heart attacks, a shudder, some tears, frantic praying, and then many feelings of guilt over how the baby would feel if it ever found out my initial reaction to it's presence. I laid in bed trying to go to sleep, but unable to think about anything accept how that test couldn't be right. Finally I got up the nerve to ask google about it. Google knows, people. Apparently I'm not the only one who has gotten a false positive from target brand pregnancy test. It happens ALOT. In fact, there are so many people complaining that I'm surprised they haven't done something about it yet.

I read multiple stories about women who have fertility problems taking them and being overjoyed thinking that had finally gotten pregnant, only to find out later from a doctor that the test was wrong. Reading those heartbreaks and disappointments was convicting. I know that if I were to get pregnant now I would love the child unconditionally, as I love my other children, but ideally for the sake of my sanity I would like to wait 5-10 years.....or at LEAST 2.5.

That information obtained I waited for the morning and then peed on another stick just for fun....and too add yet another false positive to the pile. I then thumbed my nose at target brand and went on to tell the story to a couple of friends thinking it was funny. Neither of them thought it was funny and both insisted that I take another test to be sure. I bought the expensive brand the second time around and came up with a NOT PREGNANT on the first try.

For a tightwad I have spent an awful lot of money on pregnancy tests this week....about 22$ to be exact....22$ that i could have been blowing in Etsy's general direction.

Never buy store brand pregnancy tests when you want to know the truth the first time. Lesson Learned.

Home Remedy's: Colds and Flu

2009-11-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

Cold and flu season is upon us, so I wanted to share my favorite home remedies and homeopathic stuff just in case you've never delved into that arena.

I used to scoff at the use of homoeopathics thinking that naturopathy was just a bunch of herb growing hippies, and since nothing is actually "scientifically proven", it was just another way for people to make money. Then I had my second child, fell into depression and developed a bulging disk in my lower back. The bulging disk kept me from being able to bend forward more than about 1/2 inch. This meant that I could not lower my newborn baby into her crib. The closest I could get was about 2 inches above it while kneeling (it was a portable crib), i then had to drop her the last 2 inches. I know it sounds like torcher to the baby, and she hated it, but i did try to make the bed very soft (even though that's forbidden these days). At the time i had no other options, no one to help me except my husband at night when he came home from work. After spending a few weeks in agonizing pain, i relented and went to a chiropractor. Being new in the area i accidentally went to a chiropractor that also practiced kinesiology....or muscle testing. I thought he was a little insane and maybe a slight lunatic, and most definitely a tree hugger.....maybe i still think that a little bit. His supplemental remedies however did heal my back. Not only did they heal it, but made it even stronger than it was before.

Since that experience I've been back to that chiropractor many times looking for advice and recommendations on all sort of things....and for the record he was the one who told me to take Enzymes for my daughter's colic (best remedy OF ALL TIME, works after 2 days if you're breastfeeding). I guess what I'm trying to say is if you've never tried this sort of thing before, keep an open mind. Here are a few of my favorite remedies:

Congaplex by Standard Process: This is a vitamin supplement for kids and adults. It can be taken daily or as needed when you get sick with colds, flu, whatever. It will even get rid of an ear infection as fast or faster than antibiotics. We have used this twice when Hayden has had ear infections. It's also recommended for kids who tend to pick up EVERYTHING (sickness related) as it helps to build up the immune system.

Apple Cider Vinegar Cough Syrup Recipe:
1-2 teaspoon Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (it should be a cloudy brownish color)
1-2 teaspoons honey
8 ounces of water

Mix together and drink every 2-4 hours or as needed. You can also substitute apple juice for the honey and water If you're baby is less than 1 year old. I've found this remedy works better than absolutely any cough syrup I've ever tried and is a WHOLE LOT SAFER. If Hayden has a bad cough I give this to him 2 times during the day and once before he goes to sleep. It gets rid of the cough so he can sleep great and get better more quickly.

Hylands Flu Care for Kids: These are supplements for kids and adults alike to help minimize the aches and pains associated with the flu. Note: It is not a fever reducer like tylenol.

All of these items can be googled if you want to buy them....or if I'm lucky they will appear in the advertisement section at the bottom of this post and you can buy them through there. Apple Cider Vinegar can be found at most grocery stores in the vinegar section.

Etsy Revealed: The Never Ending Addiction

2009-11-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, So tonight I got suckered into looking at cool Etsy stuff again. This time it was uber cute little girl shoes. I don't think I'm a very creative person, or very crafty, but now I'm determined to learn. I talked myself into buying a pattern to make little baby shoes. Little babies don't need shoes, so who even knew there would be an industry there, but whatever. I bought shoes for my babies, and I'm sure other people will too...So, now i will have a new hobby. I will be called "Shoe Maker," or more specifically "Baby Shoe Maker." If you have had a baby, are planning on having a baby, or may even become pregnant in the not so distant future I will probably send you free baby shoes as a promotional gift. BUY FROM ME ON ETSY....errr, i guess i better figure out how to use the pattern first.

Culinary Delights

2009-11-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

So, I'm back on my diet today and determined to finish it this time which means that at 8:44 pm I'm starving and sitting here browsing on my computer looking at this and drooling. Holy frijoles i want all of those dishes available to me upon my waking. As I was browsing through i happened to see THIS.....the infamous Butternut Squash Crab Bisque recipe complete with dazzling photos. Attempt it if you dare and then come back and tell me how it went for YOU.

I also just saw this, *guffaw* that would have been helpful to know beforehand.

Double Standard

2009-10-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

"Sonny, get that dirty bike out of my kitchen! ............right after i take this quick photo.

Soup Du Jour

2009-10-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

Helmut and I are kinda obsessed with Whole Foods Market.....okay, maybe not so much Helmut as me. I LOVE that place. I LOVE the food they make, and I'm especially in love with they're hot soup selections. After sampling most of them I fell head over heals in love with their Butternut Squash Crab Bisque. It's delightfully creamy and surprisingly sweet. I quickly became an addict and went from getting it once a month to getting it bi-weekly. That's about 16$ a week on soup.
I'm a big cheapskate so when I saw that figure and realized I was potentially spending 64$ a month on soup I decided to look for an alternative. Why not make it myself? Then I could eat it every day if I wanted and save LOTS of money. That was before I tried to peel a butternut squash.

I wouldn't classify myself as a "beginner" in the kitchen, I can work my way through a recipe, but for some reason this recipe had me chopping off fingers left and right. I'm lucky to have hands left. By the time I was done "peeling" the squash I was almost left with bloody stumps, of course it didn't help that Mariah was crawling around under my feet just daring me to step on her tiny fingers. She also must have sensed my desperation because she kept clinging to my legs and crying until Helmut finally came over and picked her up. I'm pretty sure I snarled and/or made evil eyes at everyone in the house, a few of the stray cats....and maybe even some flies before I finally finished making that soup. Four hours later I ended up with a humongous 25 serving pot full of Butternut squash crab bisque that nobody wanted but me.

Helmut forgot to tell me how much he hates crab, and I was afraid to give the shell fish to Hayden and Mariah for fear of a freaky allergic reaction. I ended up eating a couple of bowls and "saving" the rest in the fridge for a few weeks until I had the heart to dump it.

That brings me to today. I decided to venture another soup creation. This time one of Helmut's known favorites. Pasta e Fagioli from a friends recipe book which incidentally is available online. I'm happy to say that this time was quite a success. Every one loved it, Helmut especially. There were no chopped off fingers to contend with and I did all the chopping during nap time and successfully avoided the clingy leg syndrome.

If there was one lesson I had to take away from this experience it would be: always buy your soup from Whole Foods....JK, always make sure your family can eat what you're going to slave 4 hours in puddles of sweat over. Lesson learned.

Diet Log: This is Getting Old

2009-10-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

I've completely lost count of the weeks that I've been on a diet. I keep them marked religiously on the calendar as which days I have done it and which I haven't so I have a pretty good idea of how this month has gone.....bad. The good news is, I haven't gained any weight back, the bad news, I've starved half of the month and not lost a thing.

I'm not really frustrated, because this time around I figured out pretty quickly that mediocrity would not get results. The other times I've done this I must have had a faster metabolism....or been eating much less than I thought, because I was able to get away with little cheats. This time it's not happening, if I even make eye contact with chocolate cake I will put on a few pounds (who knew cake even had eyes??). Having visible proof of my lack of discipline (the calendar) helps with keeping the frustration at bay, but not the annoyance, lack of self-respect, impatience, or disgust with myself.

Seriously, how hard is it to stick to a diet for 3 more weeks? THREE MORE WEEKS?!!??!

On a good note, I went to Old Navy and tried on a bunch of clothes yesterday, and they've either made their sizes bigger (which wouldn't surprise me), or I'm much smaller than I think.

Etsy Revealed: Size Does Matter

2009-10-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had my very first experience with Etsy. It started off with a mission to find an over sized purse that could double as a diaper bag, and ended with 3 different purchases and many "hearts." If you've somehow managed to avoid Etsy thus far a "heart" means you're partially in love with an item but unable to overcome the sizable price tag, so you save it in your favorites section and hope that someday you'll amass a fortune large enough to buy it.

In case you're wondering just what did I throw my money at, I'm going to tell you:

1) The purse (duh, you knew that already) 32$

2) A nightlight for Hayden's room 13$

3) A romantic little necklace 23$

I stopped there because I wanted to see how things went before I made any further purchases....and because I was broke.

My purchases trickled in over the following three weeks. The first one to arrive was the nightlight. When i saw it in the picture I envisioned it being about the size of a tea cup. Maybe a tad bit bigger.....with a plug. What I got was a very tiny Lego sized (but none the less cute) nightlight, with batteries. Unbelievably adorable, but unusable (Etsy please don't send a crafting mafia after me for this review!).

The next item to arrive was the cute little necklace......"little" being the operative word here. In the picture I saw the model was supposedly wearing a 15 inch chain, with the necklace falling in the mid section of the woman's chest. I'm fairly certain that my neck is normal sized, average at the very least, and the necklace nearly chokes me. On the bright side, it's still very pretty and I wear it anyway....choking hazard and all.

Pictured below:

The last item to arrive was the over sized purse. While being a little smaller than I had envisioned......(it does NOT actually fit my personal chef) it is still very nice and is actually my favorite of all the items I have bought so far.

If you every do decide to shop Etsy, be sure to read EVERY DETAIL of the item description, including the measurements, and then you may want to actually measure them out to get a real idea of the item's size. NEVER rely on the pictures. Pictures tell lies....lesson learned.

On a side note: I just noticed the place that sold me the necklace is going to be having a sale. I'm sorry to report I will be ending this blog prematurely so i can go and heart more items.

The Terrible TWOS

2009-10-23T18:48:00.001-07:00

It's weird when I look back on the day at all my "grievances" and realize how small and mundane they were (ok, i take that back, i just reread this post and I'm still irritated by everything that happened). This afternoon I was ready to blow my top...I almost did several times, and I can confirm at least two occasions where i was literally shaking with wrath at atrocities committed by Hayden's hand, but if i told you what they were you would probably shake your head at me for getting so bent out of shape about them...not true they were really that bad.

But in the interest of being honest....and venting I'm going to tell you anyway. Let the head shaking and finger wagging begin.

It began at the grocery store, a happy outing with friends where Hayden proceeded to run helter skelter around the store, grabbing at the glass bottles of salad dressings....and/or ANY glass bottles, laying on the floor again and again and again, and making loud "whooping" noises until at last my patience ran out and I made him sit in the basket of the shopping cart as a punishment to him....and me (because once in there he squashed all my food).

Then it progressed to nap time. On most days this is a pretty easy venture. Today EVERYTHING was working against me. Nap time with two kids is very different from nap time with just one. It's a carefully orchestrated feat to be pulled off by only the most persistent and bull-headedly stubborn of parents. In order to get both children napping at the same time every afternoon, I have to wake them up at certain times every morning, (Hayden 8:30; Mariah 9) and Mariah must wake up from her morning nap by 12pm. If those things happen then I have a 95% chance of getting them both to go to sleep at 2pm. I put Mariah in bed, get her cozy, and then leave and do the same with Hayden, then I lie on the floor next to him until Mariah stops crying (don't feel bad, Mariah has always cries at nap time, regardless of whether i rock her, bounce her, do cartwheels or magic tricks for her, nothing works) and Hayden falls asleep. Then I'm golden for almost 2 hours.

On the way home from the grocery store Mariah fell asleep....for 15 minutes. When we got home she woke up and I thought she might go back to sleep so i put her in her bed and got Hayden in his bed. We both lay there for the next 30 minutes listening to Mariah alternate between playing in her crib to screaming like a wildcat. Finally we all gave up and I decided that it was in every ones best interests to skip nap time for now.

The next several hours included, Hayden throwing random stuff into the toilet, which i had to fish out with my BARE HAND. Hayden beaming his best friend in the face with a railroad track (sorry M). Hayden throwing a ball and knocking over a soda which gushed all over my arms, the carpet, and the furniture. Putting his hands in his spaghetti and rubbing it on his face, throwing spaghetti on the floor, wiping spaghetti on my arms, splashing gallons of water out of the bath tub, throwing a tantrum for having to pull up his own pants after going potty, and many more delightful incidences which i have happily blocked from my memory.

By 3pm I was cramming chocolate in an effort to avoid a total meltdown (like that ever works?!) by 6pm I had caved on my diet and was stress eating spaghetti, by 6:30 I had given myself a time-out, and by 6:45 when Helmut got home my rise in blood pressure was easily viewed by the bulging vein in my neck.

Now the little angels are happily asleep in their beds and I have had a few minutes of silence to collect myself and pick my brains up off the floor and have decided that I want a massage.

1 Year Old

2009-10-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

My grown up little nugget.

Monotony

2009-10-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

I was going to make a post about how much I loathe hooded T-shirts and tissue weight T's, but my sarcastic abilities have checked out for the night. Consider yourself warned.....or informed...or lucky.

The Dangers of Caffiene

2009-10-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

You know how most people get friendlier after a couple of drinks? Caffeine has a similar affect on my body. If i have more than 1 small cup I quickly become chatty and overly outgoing, energetic and .....different. The experience ends with my over activeness spiraling into irrationality and usually ending with really unnecessary tears. For these reasons i limit my caffeine intake to at most 1 small cup a week.

After talking with a friend last night and deciding to make a early morning play date (10am is early for us), I decided that this morning would be the best morning for drinking copious amounts of coffee...or indulging in that iced mocha, so that I would be able to have the ability to actually speak in full sentences with her, instead muttering the usual unintelligible strings of dialogue that get me by during most mornings.

I was feeling really good about my decision, and enjoying my latte immensely at the park when all of the sudden I noticed a pregnant woman with a small child. My first thought was "that is the most beautiful pregnant mom I've ever seen (seriously she looked just like Heidi Klum!)," and secondly, "I SHOULD TOTALLY INTRODUCE MYSELF AND MAKE SMALL TALK."

If you're one of my friends, or you know me at all you have probably noticed what an intense introvert I am. I spent years trying to come out of my shell and become "outgoing" until I read a book on personality types and realized introverted is just a personality type and inside I'm never going to really change. So i stopped trying. Embrace the inner introvert people. I digress.

I realized at the time it was the caffeine kicking in and I promise I tried to keep myself from blurting out my life story, but before I knew it an opening came and I found myself giving the details of both labors, the ins and outs of transitioning from 1 kid to 2 kids (a subject I should NEVER be allowed to talk to pregnant moms about), my phone number and offering to babysit her unborn child. I'm pretty sure I freaked her out. I honestly didn't mean to be so overpowering. I swear it was the caffeine. On any other day she would have been lucky to get a unseeing stare out of me.

I wonder what would happen if I drank caffeine every day?

More Kids?

2009-10-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Mariah's 1st birthday. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I couldn't be more excited that my baby is growing up and I've survived a WHOLE YEAR with two children, but on the other hand I'm sad that the little baby stuff is over. We haven't decided yet whether or not we're up for having any more kids. I think the past year was a little traumatic for Helmut and I and we may be experiencing some Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I have a permanent bulging vein in my neck, and Helmut gets the shakes at night. Just kidding, but seriously, it was a rough year. I never envisioned the transition being so difficult.

That said 12 months old is a bewitching age for me. Mariah has reached a semi-independence that is heart melting and adorable. When I look at her chubby little cheeks and cute little face I remember why I wanted to give Hayden a "little friend" at this age. It's taking most of my will power to resist making a similar lapse in judgment the second time around (well, not really a lapse in judgment).

Have you ever made a baby connection? It has nothing to do with the cuteness of the baby. I've held lots of cute babies, but only had this phenomenon happen twice so far, once when i held my friends 2 week old baby for the first time (MP I'm talking about Juliana), after which i immediately became pregnant with Hayden. The second time happened about 2 months ago, when another set of friends welcomed their 5th child into the world. I went to visit them at the hospital and I was able to hold the baby in my arms and in that moment I realized that I might be okay with having another child. Something about holding that newborn baby and looking into his eyes began the healing process in me for all the terrors that were last year's transition. Up until that moment I had been firmly set against having anymore kids, thinking there was absolutely no way my sanity would stretch any further, but apparently there is.

If there is ever to be another Granda, I think it will have to wait 3-5 more years. Of course accidents happen, but if we ever decide to do this again i want to be more prepared, and I want to kids to be old enough not to FREAK OUT.

That said, thanks to all my Texas friends who kept me from the loony bin. This has been a year I will NEVER forget.

"Fake" Jack

2009-10-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Two years ago we had a cat named Jack. He was cool, aloof, even tempered, and an all around nice cat. Then one day he went missing. We looked around for him for a couple of weeks and then gave up on ever finding him again assuming that one of our crazy neighbors had catnapped him. A couple of months later we decided to go to the local pound and see if he might be there....and he was! We paid the adoption fees and brought him home, this time with a chip in his ear with our address so he could never get lost again. Three days later I realized that the cat we had adopted, while looking exactly like the old Jack, was not in fact our cat. oops. On retrospect he did seem a teeny tiny bit more playful than our Jack and I swear his eyes looked a little "crazy". I just thought he was tired of being cooped up in the cages at the pound. Having already planted a chip in his ear, we felt we couldn't really take him back, so instead we dubbed him "fake" Jack and kept him. We never did find the real Jack.

Diet Log: Blargety Blarg

2009-10-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

I guess it's time for an update on the diet front. I've been avoiding posting an update lately because I haven't been doing so good. I still have 6 lbs left to lose. I was REALLY hoping to be done with this before Mariah's first birthday, but unless a miracle happens I'm going to miss my target by at least 3 weeks. I have been told by a few people that you have until the babies first birthday to lose the pregnancy weight, after that you're just considered a slacker. A chunky slacker. A chunky lazy slacker. Blarg.

The good news is I can now easily fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans again. That's makes it very tempting not to just give up and accept the extra weight.....at least until I'm done nursing at which point I plan to starve myself just because I can. I've been pregnant and/or nursing for 3.5 years now and have not had the luxury of being able to skip multiple meals and voluntarily starve. I also look forward to caffeine binges and the occasional diet drink.

Swine Flu

2009-10-14T19:39:00.001-07:00

Well, I think it's safe to say we've had our show down of the Swine Flu (H1N1). All in all I'd have to say it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. It's been going around our development the past few months and this past week it showed up at church and Hayden brought it home with him. So far he's the only one who's had it, which also surprises me. I had thought it was so contagious that everyone it touched would get it....like the plague. At least that's how it was being portrayed on the news. Talk about melodramatic. That's why I don't watch the news anymore, if I did I would probably be terrified that my own shadow was going to abduct me.

I did stop by my favorite pharmacy for some remedy options though. They showed me several things that I could use at home:

1) Hylands Flu Tablets - which happen to work really well on pain relief.
2) Boiron's Flu Remedy - which i haven't tried, but the woman explaining told me that it's similar to a flu vaccine except that you orally take a much diluted version of the flu, and supposedly it works very well.
3) Probiotics - my own idea.

So, if you've gotten yourself all worked up about the horrible HORRIBLE plaque-like swine flu, just relax, for us it wasn't even as bad as the regular flu's....or that horrible flu I got last year. That one was WAY worse. MEMORABLY worse. Why didn't they document that one?!

Sweetie Pie

2009-10-13T18:53:00.001-07:00

I've always said she's sweet enough to eat...hmmmmm.

Heated Debates and MSG Facts

2009-10-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

I originally wrote this post a couple of years ago but thought it important enough to share on my new blog. This past week I've been reminded of this stuff through reading of the Nestle Family boycott from a fellow mom blogger. I've been inadvertently avoiding all Nestle products just to avoid the MSG content, but now I see there are so many more reasons why they should be avoided. I have absolutely no doubt that MSG is the underlying cause behind the nations obesity epidemic, the rise in cancer and heart disease and the general poor health of Americans today, but for some reason no one appears to give it the proper credit....or any credit. After researching my brains out about the stuff I came to the conclusion that it would not be something I would ever voluntarily feed to my children or family. That is the primary reason we eat organic food. NOT because I am a sold-out organic lover, but because over the past 2 years of reading product labels I've discovered that products labeled "organic" generally have the least amount of preservatives and some prepared foods do not contain any MSG so i feel i can safely feed them to my kids.

Up until a couple years ago I was under the impression that Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) (nicknamed “cancer fertilizer”) was only found in chinese food. After doing some of my own internet research I’ve found that it’s in nearly everything that comes in a bag, box or can. Sickening huh? All this time I thought we were eating an MSG free diet when in truth we are being inundated with the stuff. I’m doing my best to get the word out without freaking out, so I’m making a post about it for everyone who’s like me and just didn’t know.

Want to know what’s causing obesity in America?

Trying to eat an MSG free diet? It’s a lot more difficult than you think. There are a few websites out there to help. I’m including the list of alias names for MSG for anyone that it might benefit…..

The following are a few products that ALWAYS contain MSG:

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
Hydrolyzed Protein: (plant, vegetable, any kind)
Sodium or Calcium Caseinate
Autolyzed Yeast, Yeast Extract
Yeast Food, Yeast Nutrient
Textured Protein
Glutamic Acid
Monopotassium Glutamate
Gelatin

The following products may contain MSG or create MSG during processing:

Natural Flavors, flavoring, flavors, natural anything flavor
Bouillon or Stock
Broth (chicken, beef, any kind)
Carrageenan
Whey protein, whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate
Soy sauce, soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate
Malt Extract or Flavoring, Malted Barley
Maltodextrin
Anything Protein fortified
Anything Fermented
Anything Ultra Pasteurized
Anything Enzyme-modified

Butt Paste

2009-10-08T19:47:00.001-07:00

What happens when you ask a 2 year old to go get his shoes out of the
closet.

Human Alarm Clocks

2009-10-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

Somebody needs to inform my 11 month old and 2 year old that I will be happy to assist them with all their night time needs and early morning wake up but i will require a platter of egg, bacon and cheese taco's, a super-sized latte, and some brownies....and even then i will probably still resemble this:

Last night I went to bed with a headache. I even took some Tylenol because i thought it would help and put me to sleep. It didn't. I lay awake for another hour until Hayden came in and helped himself to the middle section of our bed. I then spent the next 7 hours fielding blows to my face and back. I miss the days of the crib, when he couldn't get out and he slept good every night by himself...and when i didn't wake up in the morning with a black eye from where my 2 year old kicked me and socked me with his stuff cat. Seriously, is he training to be a ninja in his sleep? On a side note: maybe i should stop showing him Kung Fu Panda before bed.

Mariah also decided to join in the fun by randomly waking, screaming and thrashing around when i picked her up (usually a sign that she's having an allergic reaction to a bug bite). I responded with my usual reaction to a random midnight wakening which is to mutter curses and swears under my breath and shake my fist at the sky....not actual curses and swears, just the words "curses" and "swears." By morning i was so grouchy that when my husband made a comment about leaving for work, I almost spontaneously combusted.

There are no sick days as a mom. I think that's the most difficult part of being a mother for me. Sometimes i just want to sleep of a bad night but i can't. I do have to give Helmut some credit though, since we don't have any family around us he really does step up and give me a break when I really need it. As the morning progressed things got better. Two cups of hot chocolate later and I was able to stop my seething and start in with the annoyed sighing (a step up I assure you). All's well that ends well right? I sure hope tonight goes better though. I would just hate to burst a blood vessel from a dramatic rise in blood pressure tomorrow morning.

Multitasking

2009-10-06T18:49:00.001-07:00

I broke out the juicer last week for my innocuous stomach pains, and it appears to have worked. I haven't had any pain since i drank the cabbage juice more than a week ago. I still want to punch myself in the face for not doing it sooner. Eight weeks of unnecessary pain just because i was too lazy to go in the garage and dig in a bunch of spider infested moving boxes for my juicer....cabbage juice cures ulcers - -Lesson learned.

Since the juicer is sitting on the counter now I decided to make use of it and get rid of as many vegetables from the fridge as possible, so today Hayden and I mixed up a little cabbage-carrot-celery cocktail for lunch. As you can see in the picture he stole one of the carrots in the process.

Conversations with a Two Year Old: Vegetables

2009-10-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hayden: Mommy, I want to go to the store.

Me: Why?

Hayden: To buy some vegetables for dinner.

Me: Oh (!!!), what kind of vegetables?

Hayden: Cake...

Etsy Revealed

2009-10-02T20:23:00.001-07:00

I've got to make a post tonight if for nothing else than for the sake of getting my face off the front of my blog. Maybe Mariah's not the only one who is camera shy...

I've been fighting the pull of Etsy for a while now since I first heard of it at the very beginning of Mary Pat's Etsy career. My reasons? Time and MONEY. It takes a long time for me to find anything that I like and even more time to find something I would be willing to pay boutique prices for. I mean, who wants to pay boutique prices when you can just go to Wal-Mart and get it for pennies....Joking, JOKING....put your shirt back on. Since Meichiko is getting ready to open her store in a few days, her excitement has been rubbing off on me and I finally went and had a look around last night.

The Mission: New Diaper Bag (that doesn't look anything like a diaper bag).
Price Range: 20$-30$ ( I know I'm cheap)
Time Allotment: 30 minutes

Here's what I found and bought:

Courtesy of Christystudio

I'm totally in love with it. It's so big I can fit my own junk, diapers, wipes, and probably several boxes of crackers a hoard of sippy cups and my own personal chef.

Here are my stats:
Diaper bag that doesn't look at all like a diaper bag: Score
Price: 31$
Time: 20 minutes to find and another hour ogling all the other bags in the store.

Etsy 1 - Kari 0

Camera Shy

2009-10-01T22:40:00.001-07:00

She would not look at the camera, period. Also, sorry the first
picture you see of me on this blog has to be make-up less. If I wasn't
so tired tonight I would shamelessly photoshop the heck out of it.

Curious George: The Dark Side

2009-09-30T20:53:00.001-07:00

A couple of months ago we axed our cable and stopped watching all the normal programs on television. I used to be glued to The Biggest Loser, Top Chef, and ANYTHING on HGTV. Hayden's shows of choice included Curious George, Word World and most other PBS cartoons. We thought that by getting rid of TV we would spend more time outside and doing creative things rather than sitting around zoning out. We didn't want to get rid of everything however, and Hayden was pretty addicted to his daily Curious George, so i went on Amazon.com and bought all the CG videos I could find so he wouldn't start feeling deprived....or whatever a 2 year old feels when they lose their tube watching privileges.

For the past two months now he's been watching George almost exclusively. For a time I marveled at what a good role model that little monkey is. He eats fruits and vegetables for snacks, he recycles, and he's Uber polite. All around good stuff. I failed to notice his monkey antics until recently.

Our last couple of trips to the grocery store have been a nightmare for me. Hayden runs away, grabs stuff randomly, grabs random people, shouts at the top of his lungs, and is generally embarrassing to shop with. At one point a few weeks ago when he was laying in the shopping cart using my expensive organic loaf of bread as a pillow and the organic avocados as a foot rest while simultaneously throwing a tantrum and ripping apart my cheese i decided to suspend all further shopping privileges for him. That worked for at least 2 days before i ran out of groceries and had no choice but to take him on another equally pleasurable shopping trip.

It was at this point that I realized George might have a dark side. A side i should have considered before letting my impressionable 2 year old watch him over and over. In addition to all his charming qualities George also climbs everything, frequently makes HUGE messes, and every single episode is based on how he colossally damages things and then learns how to fix them. I guess having my child model himself after a monkey isn't the best idea after all. ParentingFail.

We may be in the market for some new educational cartoons. Any suggestions?

Fun at the mall

2009-09-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

What can I say, the race car was taken.

Diet Log: Ulceritititus or Something Else Equally Troubling

2009-09-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

I completely lost count of what week I'm supposed to be on for my diet. Let's just say this is week 8 of 12. I had lost 14 lbs, up until my Dad came for a visit. We partied and at cheesecake like there was no tomorrow and I happily gained 2 lbs back. Since my Dad left I've been bummed out and as a result I broke my own cardinal rule and ate way more than any human being should be allowed to eat....at night. So I've had a few set backs in the past two weeks. I started over on Friday and have been doing okay since then. I appear to have hit a plateau which is unbelievably frustrating, but I've decided I would rather starve forever and remain at the same weight than slowly gain it all back.

I am starting to rave again at nights and beg Helmut to take me out for cheeseburgers and milkshakes. Today he told me he's pretty sure I must be pregnant again because the only time I crave cheeseburgers is when I'm carrying children in mah bellay (if that just went over your head you probably need to watch Austin Powers). My response: DO I LOOK LIKE I'M PREGNANT?! If I still do this diet must not be working or my husband has very little perception of my changing shape....or I haven't lost enough weight yet for people to notice...crap.

I also appear to have picked up an ulcer somewhere along the way. I'm not 100% sure that's what it is, but that's the easiest explanation for what I'm feeling. It's a steady burning gnawing pain in my belly that's been there for 7 weeks now. Some days it doesn't hurt at all, other days it drives me crazy. When my Dad was visiting it mysteriously disappeared for 2 weeks, only to start back up with a vengeance on Saturday and stay until this morning.

I found a home remedy for healing ulcers that involves drinking 1 liter of cabbage juice a day for 10 days. Up until this morning I found the idea too repulsive to try. I also had buried my juicer in a moving box 9 months ago and thought it would be impossible to find (note to self: don't pack your stuff 9 months before you sell your house).

After enduring the pain for 2.5 days [read: an eternity], I dug through the boxes in the garage, found my juicer and prepared a cabbage juice cocktail for Hayden and I. It was as awful tasting as it sounds. I downed 2 cups with only a little bit of gagging, while Hayden drank his, periodically letting me know how much he didn't like it. The relief was instantaneous. Almost unreal. I was so skeptical about the remedy that i could hardly believe when it worked. Granted the burning gnawing pain was replaced by a little nausea. It has been 12 hours now since I drank it and the pain is still gone. I had planned on drinking more tonight if it came back, but I guess I'll reserve that pleasure for tomorrow morning.