T-ball

I lived for softball from elementary school through high school. I loved the sport and I loved that I had something that I could do with my dad (as a girlie-girl, there really wasn’t much else). So I decided to sign my daughter up for t-ball because I thought she and I would have so much fun together practicing and playing.

However, now I’m rethinking my decision. Every time we go outside she doesn’t want to practice…she wants to ride her bike or play with the other kids. My adorable little too-young-to-play-on-a-team little boy, however, plays with me all the time and is actually quite good.

Tonight is her first practice. It’s going to be a high of 50 degrees today. I’m not holding out much hope that she’ll instantly love it and want to play all the time. I have a feeling that I wasted $85. But there’s always a chance, right?

Very Weird Dream and Baby Update

Yesterday my daughter told me that she wants to have a baby. Why? So she can be a mom. Why? So she can go shopping and put stuff in the cart all by herself. So apparently that’s what comes with having a baby :)

Because of this conversation I’m sure, I had a dream last night that she was pregnant. Yes, my daughter, and yes, she was still 4. It was scary! We were running through the hospital trying to find labor and delivery because she was having contractions and then her water broke. Only my dad said “her eggs broke” (not sure what that was all about). In the dream it did cross my mind that her body was too little to have a baby, and I was a little worried about her, but not as worried as I should have been!

Thankfully I woke up before we even got into a room. I would not have wanted to see how that dream turned out! But I do think it’s funny that I had that dream after having that conversation with her.

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I had another doctor’s appointment yesterday (isn’t it sad that after the first baby these monthly doctor’s appointments become a pain? I mean, you don’t learn anything new and yet an hour of your time is wasted). The heartbeat was 150. We also scheduled the big ultrasound for 3 weeks from yesterday. I’m so excited! But, not as excited as most as we won’t be finding out what we’re having. We’ve had two surprises so far and I loved it so much. I also made the appointment as late as possible because I think we’re going to take the kids to it. I’d like to get some opinions on that…I know my daughter would love it! But I’m worried that if the doctor finds something wrong (I’m such a worry-wart) we won’t handle it well, especially if the kids are there. But I know the chances of that happening are slim, so my gut says to take them. What do you think?

Quick "Hello"

Even though I'm super busy at work, I still find time to enjoy the beautiful weather outside and eat some ice cream with the kids :)

Random Thoughts...

-I’m so busy at work again :( Luckily this time will only last 2 ½ weeks! And thankfully it’s not near as stressful as year-end was.

-I get to go and have a massage tomorrow! Hubby surprised me with a gift certificate during my really stressful time in February, and I’m just now getting to use it. I can’t wait…an hour of just laying there and relaxing!

-My sister is coming into town! Yippee! I haven’t seen her since we went to Michigan 1 ½ months ago.

-We're probably going to go and see Expelled on Saturday, which I can't wait for!

-My dad got my son boxing gloves. You wouldn’t have thought he was at Disney World with how happy he was last night with his gloves on boxing everyone. I meant to get a picture but I forgot…I will get one this weekend though…he’s so cute!

-I believe I felt the baby kick! I’m doubting myself because I didn’t feel the other two until I was 20 weeks, but I’m pretty sure a couple of times it I felt it!

I hope everyone has a great weekend…it’s going to be a little colder here (65 degrees as opposed to 78 like it will be today) and rainy, but I don’t care…it’s the weekend!

A Cool Movie...

I know Ben Stein from “Win Ben Stein’s Money.” I always loved watching that game show, although now I have no idea why.

So when I was told that he had created a movie documenting his quest to find out why it appeared that scientists and teachers who were shut down because of their discussions of Intelligent Design, I was more than intrigued.

See, I’m the type of person that believes what I want to believe. I really don’t care what other people believe, as long as they don’t try to tell me their way is the right way and there’s no other possibilities. Evolution is the perfect example of this. While I believe we are always evolving and adapting to our surroundings, I don’t believe that we came here from nothing. I believe in God, and I believe that he put us here. I get angry that my kids will be taught in school that evolution is how we came to be, and that teachers won’t state it’s a “theory,” but will state it as fact. Again, I don’t care what everyone else believes, but that is not what I believe and not what I will be teaching my kids.

All I want is for them to talk about the different theories of how the earth and mankind came to be. Then, depending on the kids’ ages, tell them to go home and either talk to their parents or decide for themselves how they think the earth was formed. Let each person make their own decision.

And Ben Stein must have read my mind! OK, not really, but it appears he and I are on the same page. The movie starts tomorrow and hubby and I are all set to go and see it. Check out the link below…even if you totally disagree with me, I would think that based on the trailers to this movie he’s got a point…why is it that the first amendment applies to every other subject except where we all came from?

www.getexpelled.com

Spoiled Kids

So everything is going great with the new nanny. My son in the car last night even said “I loved my nanny” (still working on his tenses).

She takes them shopping and to the park, and pretty much anywhere else they want to go. The only problem with her? She has a hard time saying “no.” She “made the mistake” of taking the kids to McDonald’s her first week, and then the week after, and now every time they pass a McDonald’s the kids want to go and eat. Every time they go anywhere the kids (and it’s mainly my daughter) asks the nanny to buy her something (which ranges from candy to notebooks and pens to toys). She’s taken them to Target a couple times to get some things from the dollar aisles.

Yesterday I came home and the nanny told me that she had bought my daughter and her daughter matching dresses. She said my daughter claimed that she didn’t have any summer dresses. Well of course she doesn’t…it’s not summer yet and we haven’t been shopping yet for warm clothes since it’s been 40 degrees the past 3 days.

I told the nanny that she needs to tell them “no.” Although secretly I do love that she spoils them…I figured if she didn’t care about them or her job she wouldn’t put the energy into taking two little girls into a dressing room to try on dresses.

But seriously, my daughter needs to stop asking for stuff!

Boxing Shorts

My dad bought my son a pair of Lightning McQueen swimming trunks. The minute he handed them to him my son said “boxing shorts!”

So Saturday morning he wanted me to put his boxing shorts on so that he could box on the Wii. He informed me that he had to take his shirt off because “boxers don’t wear shirts.”

Last night he wanted to wear them to sleep, so these were his pajamas:

His weekend was filled with sports…when he wasn’t boxing he was playing baseball or kicking field goals throughout the house.

When Will It End???

This pregnancy is killing me. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that there are lots of women out there that have it a lot harder than I do when it comes to being pregnant, but for me and my history, this one is definitely the worst.

I’m just over 15 weeks and I still feel nauseous all the time. Eating does not make that feel better like it did the past two times. I also feel like I’m digesting food too quickly. I’ll eat a normal sized lunch and an hour later my stomach is growling. Literally. And after I eat (even a small bowl of cereal) I feel so stuffed. I feel like I just ate a huge Thanksgiving meal when in reality I just had a sandwich or something like that. I was given a prescription that works really well, but the side effects are worse to me than the nauseous feeling, so I’ve stopped taking it.

I understand this stuff happens during the first trimester. I’m tired, have headaches, don’t feel well, etc. But it’s supposed to end! And it hasn’t yet! With my other two I was feeling a ton better by the end of week 13. Why does this one have to be so different? My honest thought is my age. I was 5 years younger when I was pregnant with my daughter…I’m sure the older you get, the more difficult pregnancy can be on your body (and no, I’m in no way implying that I’m “old” or anything like that…I just think it’s a different experience for my body compared to 5 years ago).

I’m really hoping that I start to feel better soon. It’s starting to get nice out and I just want to play outside! My poor kids don’t understand why it’s hard for me to play with them sometimes, and I haven’t really cooked a good meal in a long time.

When people around me ask me how I’m feeling, I so badly want to say that I’m feeling great, is that too much to ask?

Our Great Friends....

We have some really, really good friends. I’ve talked about them on here a couple of times…they were our neighbors when we moved into our first house in 2001 at the young and somewhat naïve age of 21. They had two little girls – the oldest was 2 ½ and the youngest was just 5 months old when we moved in. I remember seeing the lady pushing her double stroller around the neighborhood each night after work. She would stop and talk to hubby, yet I had no idea who she was. A couple weeks after moving in we officially met them. As a neighborhood we would all gather in the court in the evenings and talk and hang out. I remember the first time I met the oldest little girl…she didn’t talk much, and she was off by herself moving this little chair. She would sit in it, and then get up and move it to another place…she did this for about ½ hour. I talked to her while she did it, and finally she trusted me enough to talk back to me.

The husband and I didn’t get off to a good start at first…he was very concerned that I was “supporting” the family because I had a job and hubby didn’t. I got into so many arguments with him over this – but I later learned it was just part of his personality…he was “stirring the pot” as he still tells me to this day.

We all quickly became very good friends…hubby and I would go over to their house almost every night (I’m not joking) to hang out with them and play with their girls. We often took the girls for a weekend so that the parents could have a break (they had no family close by) and also so that we could get our “kid fix.” We desperately wanted kids, but we knew that for our own sanity, we should wait a few years.

Two years after moving in to the house (almost to the day) we had our first little girl. The girls across the street were now 4 and 2 and they were so excited to have another girl! As the years went by we got closer and closer to them. Two years later we had our son, and again, so much love and support from our friends.

We always said that if either of us moved, we’d have to move together…we’d never be able to be apart! And in February of 2006 that’s just what we decided to do! We both signed contracts (along with my parents) to build new houses. Over the next 10 months we went through selling houses, realtor issues and apartment living; and finally in January of 2007 we were reunited again in our new houses.

Their girls are now 9 and 7, my daughter is almost 5, and they play so perfectly together. We’ve been looking forward to the day the oldest can babysit, and how she’ll drive everyone to school when she’s 16. All of our lives revolve around each other. Apparently we’re known as the “neighborhood clique” and people were intimidated to move in by us because they had heard that three out of the five houses on the court knew each other very well. Of course once we met everyone they learned that there’s no clique, just really, really good friends.

A few weeks ago our friend lost his job. He was interviewing with companies out of state. He’s in a specialized field, so there’s not a whole lot for him locally. Last Saturday we found out he took a job in New York. I couldn’t hold back my tears…I seriously felt myself starting the stages of grief…I started off feeling so angry that they were moving. When I told my daughter she immediately burst into tears.

Then this week we hear that maybe, just possibly, the wife and girls might stay behind and not move. The reasoning behind this makes perfect sense. The job he has now isn’t permanent…the job he hopes to move into will allow him to work from home, and he doesn’t want to give up their house. Not only does the housing market suck, but it’s the perfect house for them.

I’ve been praying my heart out that this is what ends up happening. I want them to stay here to badly. I can’t imagine not being able to say “let’s see if our friends want to have dinner,” which is what happens about 3 out of 7 nights in the summer. Or being able to run to them when we need a favor (and visa versa).

That family and those girls are so very important to me, to us, and I really hope that they are able to stay because I really can’t imagine summer nights without them.

Weekend Pictures

Here are some pictures from Saturday night:


At the mall:

Getting her nails painted:



Getting her hair done:

The finished product:

Special Mommy/Daughter Weekend

So this weekend was amazing! The weather was absolutely gorgeous! Maybe, just maybe, spring is actually here.

My daughter and I got ready for our special night out and headed to the mall for her to play in the play area for a while. We didn’t have much time before we had to leave in order to get her over to Libby Lu’s (which was about 15 minutes away), and she was so good when I told her it was time to go! Not a single fight!

She had no idea we were going to Libby Lu’s (she’s never been there, so she had no idea what it even was). We were a little early, so we walked around the store for a little bit. She told me she was hot and I felt her forehead and she was very warm. And she just wasn’t acting like herself, so I was worried that she was getting sick.

The finally called her name and she picked out which package she wanted and which hairstyle. The girl did her nails and make-up at a little table kind of in the middle of everything (not back at the chair where she did her hair) which was kind of weird. She also did everything really fast…I think my daughter had a hard time keeping up with all the choices and didn’t really get to enjoy the pampering.

We then moved back to the chair where she did her hair. Now my daughter is super sensitive when it comes to her head, and this lady was not very gentle at all. I could tell my daughter was in so much pain! Thankfully though, like the other stuff, it didn’t last long. She then got to pick out her animal and it’s accessories that came with her package and we paid and got out of there. I think the whole thing took less than 20 minutes. I think the thing that disappointed me the most was the fact that her package was about the same price as the Bippity Boppity Boutique was, and there she was treated like a princess! Her appointment there lasted an hour, and it was as if she was the only girl in the room. Oh well, I know she had fun, but I’m not sure if we’ll ever do it again.

Once we got outside my daughter was able to cool off a little, and when I asked her how she felt she said she didn’t feel very well, but she thought it was because she was hungry. So we still went to dinner (Olive Garden – her choice), which was a great decision. Once she got some food in her she perked right up! I ended up having to take her hair out because it was hurting her head so much, and once I did that she felt even better. She ate two bowls of salad, a breadstick and her pizza. We got dessert to go :) And when she asked the waitress if she could have another Andes mint, she brought her a whole handful! We ended up going home and eating our cheesecake while watching the Enchanted as we waited for the boys to come home from their special night (which hubby said was a blast!).

Sunday we played outside all day! It was gorgeous and felt so good to just sit in the sun. After church all the neighbors were out for the first time all winter, so it was good to see everyone and catch up!

Today it’s supposed to be 70 degrees (I’m still in shock). It’s too bad that I’m stuck in an office :( But I know the kids will be heading to the park today, so they should have a ton of fun!

Here are some videos of our special night out (It's not letting me upload pictures, so I'll put those up tomorrow):

Here she is getting all beautiful!




Libby Lu's from Debbie on Vimeo.




Here my daughter is singing one of the songs from The Enchanted:




Mommy/Daughter Dinner Out from Debbie on Vimeo.

Feeling Old.....

I feel very, very old.

Hubby and I went to the Jason Aldean concert last night, which was held on campus (I hadn’t realized that until hubby looked up the directions). It was not your typical concert venue…it was more like a gigantic bar with some tables and everyone stood to watch the concert. So there we were, amongst tons of college kids, and I had never felt so old in my life. Of course being pregnant and not feeling the best did not help matters, as I didn’t dress up or anything for the occasion. But you know college girls…they dress up for everything! I’m not sure if we looked as out of place as we felt…hubby did still get carded even though he was wearing a wrist band which meant he had already been carded.

We also felt old as we were driving home at 11:00 so very tired and just dying to crawl into bed. When did this happen?

Despite feeling old we had a great time! The group that opened for him was horrible, but once Jason started singing it was a very good time. They even had a “non-alcoholic” stand with snacks and pop, so at least I was able to get some food and a drink while I was there! And we left without beer spilled on us, which with how packed we were in this place I feel is a huge accomplishment!

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This weekend we plan to get some outside work done…it’s supposed to be 56 degrees and sunny! How sad is it that that sounds warm to us right now???

Tomorrow night hubby and my son are going to an arena football game together, and my daughter and I are going to do some fun girly stuff together. I made her an appointment for Libby Lu’s which I can’t wait for! Then we’ll probably go to dinner and play at the mall. She’s really been looking forward to this mommy/daughter time.

The rest of the weekend we’ll just relax! I’m starting to get busy again at work, so I need all the rest I can get!

Three Time Mommy tagged me with this meme, so here we go.

Rules

A. Post the rules at the beginning.

B. Answer the questions about yourself.

C. Tag 5 people and let them know in a comment on their blogs that they have been tagged.

What Was I Doing 10 Years Ago?
Let's see....I was finishing up my freshman year in college. It was spring quarter, so the campus was beautiful and I had a hard time going to class when all I wanted to do was lounge around outside all day! Hubby and I had been dating for almost exactly one year by this point.

Snacks I Enjoy:
Ice cream, chips, fruit, chocolate - there really isn't a snack I don't enjoy!

Five Things on my To-Do List Today:
(1) Actually get some work done here at work :)
(2) Play with the kids
(3) Take my daughter to gymnastics
(4) Go to concert tonight with hubby
(5) Try to get some sleep?

Things I Would Do if I Became a Billionaire:
Quit my job!!!
Donate to church and charities and anyone else in need
Pay for my parents' house
Pay off my sister's medical school loans
By a second and maybe a third house somewhere warm!
Travel!
Landscape my yard

Three Bad Habits:
(1) Blogging instead of working :)
(2) Expecting too much from people
(3) Not taking time to relax when I need to

Five Places I Have Lived:
1. Las Vegas, NV
2. State College, PA
3. Hudson, OH
4. Athens, OH
5. and 6. Two suburbs of Columbus, OH

Jobs I Have Had:
1. Babysitter
2. Gymnastics coach
3. Bath and Body Works
4. Accountant (multiple times)
5. And of course, MOM!

Things People Don't Know About Me:
I love good arguments. If someone tries to tell me that something has to be done a certain way with no valid reason as to why, I will debate it until I'm blue in the face. I just really hate it when people have "rules" but no reason as to why they have those rules.

April Fool's Day

So yesterday was April fool’s Day. I’ve never been into it…probably stemming back from when my mom tried to get me to play a trick on my dad when I was about 7 or 8 and I couldn’t do it without laughing. Thankfully I don’t have anyone around me that is into it either, so no jokes are played on me.

My in-laws had the kids for the afternoon yesterday, and my daughter was taught what an April fool’s joke was. When I got home, she asked me where my other earring was and when I was checking to see if I had really lost one, she yelled out “April fool’s, gotcha!” Later we got hubby together by telling him he had something on the back of his pants.

The rest of the night my daughter was trying everything to trick us, and she and hubby went back and forth a bunch of times. I think it ended when he got her really good by telling her that her Easter basket was empty and her candy was all gone. She ran over to him upset and as soon as she got near him he yelled “April fool’s!!” She was laughing hysterically.

So while I’m not really into jokes and tricks, it was such a fun night trying to trick her and watching out for her tricks!

Not Being The Firstborn is Not an Excuse!

A hard reality hit me a couple weeks ago that left me feeling like a not-so-great mom. My son is no where near the level my daughter was at this age of knowing her letters and numbers and actually even able to read two or three words. I know a lot of times second children don’t get the same amount of time and attention as firstborn’s get, but that’s no excuse for him being so far behind her.

He knows his alphabet and he knows how to count to 20. But he doesn’t recognize letters (except for “J” and “K” because those are the letters that his and his sister’s names start with). Like I said, my daughter not only could recognize letters, she could read a few words! It hit me the other day that she was addicted to this toy:

(http://www.leapfrog.com/en/learning_toys/fridgephonics.html)

So this weekend I sat my son down and we started playing with it. It’s always been on our refrigerator, and he always pushes the button that plays the ABC song, but he never put the actual letters in it and listened to what sounds they made. I was very nervous about how he would handle this because his attention span can be very short for things like this. But he really surprised me! And each day since then he’ll plop himself down by the refrigerator and say “mommy, do letters with me.” It’s so neat to watch him closely watch my mouth as we both sing the song…he’s watching exactly how I’m saying the letter and the sound. In just three days I’ve seen such an improvement in him! This toy has once again been the perfect thing!

I hope this works and I can catch him up. I know everyone says that girls are usually more advanced at this age, but I don’t want that to be the case just because I didn’t spend enough time working with him.