I got a letter from each of my children!

It was my first letter from them. And it warmed my heart so much.

As I'm going through my mail, I see the 2 envelopes I sent with them addressed to "Mommy". One from Ella. One from Allison.

I sent the envelopes with them and told them they can send me pictures in the mail and the mailman would bring it to me. They were stoked to be able to utilize the mailman, but I wasn't sure I'd actually get anything. But I did and I'm so glad.

I'm going to color some pictures tonight and get it off in the mail. Due to the 1st, they should still get it by Friday.

The kids are away, so mommy shall play clean.

I just spent 7 1/2 hours cleaning the kids room. And when I mean clean, I mean take out every single loose item, making huge pile in the living room, and making order out of everything. I find parts to all items w/ parts. I toss lame happy meal toys and other such cheap things. I pack away toys and animals the kids like, but aren't playing with just now. I'll take all that back out at a later date. I also got a huge bag of toys together for goodwill.

Whew. Everything is perfect. Everything has it's place and all it's part: closets, boxes, under beds, toy chests, drawers, everything. I'm tired, since it's 3am, but wanted to post a bajillion pictures of the kids' room.

Here is looking straight in from the doorway. That's the new Barbie Diamond Castle you see.


Now I turn a little, and you can see how I have toys stored along the wall.


Turn more and you can see their dresser, quilt rack and Peter Pan the Tortoise's house on top. We had him in other room and now I don't know what to do with him.


A few little boxes on the wall to hold their nick knacks and the beginning of their bed.


The bunk bed in all it's glory.


The weird hammock I have hanging from the ceiling over Ella's bed. They simply have too many stuffed animals. And I take bags and bags over to storage.


The space at the end of the bed is taken up by the dress up box. The Dora House is next to it too. As is the hanging ballerina bow holder. (you can see the other one for allison hanging above the hamper in picture 4)


All the way around now. Fun shot of the bathroom. Look close and you can see my belly in the mirror.


Closeup of Allison's bed. (see the aquarium? These were in their cribs when they were born. Still, every single night, they push the button to watch their fishies as they go to sleep.)


Closeup of Ella's bed. (Margelina, the book rack is PBKs)


Closeup of weird hammock thing. But it works!


Closeup of Dora toy boxes for all their small toys.


I added a tub for baby dolls only.


Another tub for the animals:


Their table/chairs:


Play kitchen and small bookshelf for bigger toys.


The storage boxes that fit perfectly under the bed. Each one has it's own organized contents.


This shows the little basket for tiny stuffed animals.


This one shows the quilt rack and the things I save for the girls - bronzed shoes, flowers they got at birth, hand prints in clay, special mementos.


And finally, the other small shelf which has their names in wooden letters on it and then their newborn pictures above it.



Whew. I'm really tired. It's 3:38am. Time to pass out.

post note - I am reading this 7 hours laters and it was so chock-full of spelling mistakes and "wtf was I saying?" mistakes too. Apparently proof reading and spell check don't function at 3:30am.

Because I miss them

Here is Ella putting on her favorite ornament (which is an old tinkerbell):


Daddy helping Allison put on her music box ornament:


Erg. I miss them.

What's that? Nothing you say? NOTHING? (updated)

I'm sitting here alone. ALONE. As in no one around. My husband just ran out for a moment, but he'll be back. My children, on the other hand, are gone for a week.

My inlaws took them for an entire week and I honestly don't know how to feel about it. I welcome the break. I'm 36 weeks pregnant and I'm starting to have high blood pressure. Being able to rest for a full week will be nice. I'll still work and all that, but coming home to have to do absolutely nothing? It's going to be strange.

I'm going to miss them. They've been gone for an hour and I already miss them. Because I'm a working mom, my evening and weekends mean everything to me. I've quite often accidentally-on-purpose woken them up from their naps just so I get to have more wake-time with them. And yeah, they drive me crazy much of the time, but no matter how they are acting - they are my heart and soul. Just because I have a big bruise on my leg which hurts so bad it throbs, I still want my leg with me at all times.

Ella, my little blonde drama queen, don't grow up too fast in the next week. It's all happening too fast and I'm afraid to blink enough as it is.


Allie, my beautiful girlie girl, mommy is going to miss your morning time cuddles. Can you save them up for me so I can still have them when you get home?



updated: The girls just called me when they got to Grandma and Papa's house. Allie spent maybe 15 seconds telling me she loved me all the way to outer space and to a black hole. Then Ella told me she was drawing me pictures and would mail them to me. (I gave her a stamped envelope to mail me the picture she was drawing for me when she left.) She said "The mailman didn't come today and he won't come tomorrow. But the next day he will come and then I will mail you the picture. I am not done yet but I will have plenty of time. Time to watch Barbie and the Diamond Castle. Bye mommy! I love you. I miss you."

Good lord. She's only 4.

Question for those with little girls ...

When your daughter(s) pretend play, do they use a play voice too?

Both my girls use this pretend voice that is something like 187 octaves higher than their normal voice. It was Ella who used it first, so I don't know if Allie just picked it up from her, or if it's a normal girl thing to do.

Holy crap it's annoying. That voice is just ~so~ high. Wondering if I'm the only one who gets to enjoy it.

On the last day of christmas ...

... my youngest gave to me, a violent case of puking on me.

Allison is sick. She threw up twice during the night when Tom let me sleep (right through it) and then again at 645am. And then again. And then again. And then again. And then again.

And then, as I feel asleep on the couch watching A Christmas Story with Allie-ballie nestled into my neck as she slept, she woke up gurgling and WHAM! A full chest of puke again. So much it pooled in my bra. Awesome. Thank goodness I took precaution and lined the couch with a plastic table cloth underneath a blanket, so I let the rest just pool on the blanket we were laying on as I held her up.

I took her into the bathtub along with me and let her just kind of lay against me as the warm water cleaned us both. She's actually playing a bit now with her new mermaid barbie, still in the tub. She seems fine for a few after she pukes, she just can't hold anything down. It had been a few hours since the last puking session, so she had some water, a few bites of toast, applesauce and then topped off with some 7-up. Except there was no mistaking that Swedish fish in there too - don't know how she snuck that one by me.

Lots of laundry to do and visions of puking to get out of my head. Hope you all are having a good day!

The best.

I love when I'm already awake when the girls wake up. Not that it happens often, as they wake up at 7am, but it does happen.

They are just in that sleepy, cuddly mode and I get to just sit down and have two girls on my lap cuddling with me. Their morning breath doesn't even bother me. They cuddle me, I cuddle them. And then Karl kicks whomever is on my left side.

Can life be any better for me right now?

I know we all have reasons for being blessed. Not having children yet doesn't mean you are not blessed. It just means that something else is what makes your heart warm right now. For me, it's this early morning love.

Forgive my sappiness.

What's the harm in television?

I was a latch-key kid growing up and I was raised by the glow of the television. But I was a very active kid and when I could go out and play - I did. I don't think I ever ~choose~ television over active play.

So when I need to occupy the kid's, I let them watch cartoons. Yeah, yeah, I hear all the negative things about it, but it's not like I'm letting them watch porn and Saw III.

And then I realized it.

Ella runs to me while I'm in the shower with almost a panic. "Mommy! Mommy!"

"What?!" as I throw open the shower curtain.

"The t.v. says you have to buy [this] NOW!!! You have to get out and CALL NOW!"

Ahhh. The commercial watching has started :)

Do gypsies still buy children?

When I get overly frustrated with my girls, I give the dead-ass-serious empty threat of "I swear girls, I'm going to sell you to the gypsies". Sadly, I have no idea where to find a gypsy.

It's funny when I say it in public and someone overhears me - they look at me like I'm the most terrible mother in the world. Yet other mothers call their kids names, pull on their arms, push them and hit them in public. But ~I~ am the bad one for threatening some gypsy selling.

My kids are actually quite well behaved. I am a disciplinarian and they know there are consequences. Sure, they are kids and they act up now and again, but you'll never have to roll your eyes at us in some public place. I've had to walk out of two places so far due to the kids' behavior, but two times in almost 5 years? Not too shabby.

It AMAZES me how some parents let their kids go wild in stores/restaurants. It's not the ones who just allow it to happen and turn a blind eye, they simply are letting their kids act that way. It's the ones who actually seem to ~try~ to get them to behave and the kids refuse - those are the families that blow my mind.

I was at pottery barn kids yesterday and a little boy around 3 (with a pacifier in his mouth) just took off from her. She called for him to stop but he just kept going. She took off after him and after catching him at the back of the store, she picked him up and said in a sweet sing-song voice "say sorry to mommy!". Whoa. My kid takes off running? All I would have to do is say their name ~one~ time and they'll stop.

~Shrug~. To each their own I guess. I'll raise my kids how I raise them and other parents have the right to do the same. It just sucks that the "bad" parents (in the area of constructive discipline) ends up annoying everyone around them because they don't put the energy into teaching their children the right and wrong way to act in public.

"Can you wipe me???"

How old is the average kid who can wipe their own butt? (Proficiently.)

When I became a mom, I knew about diapers, but I never ever put in any thought past being potty trained. I ~never~ thought for a second about the added years of butt wiping I still had to do.

When does it end? Ella will be in kindergarten in 9 months, so I'm sure it'll be by then, right? Or do they just half-assed wipe while at school and still ask at home? I have already started teaching her, of course, and she at least has to give it a go, but she's not really good at it yet.

Yet another chapter missing from the "what to expect" books.

Maternity & Family pictures

I don't think there is anyone who reads this blog but not my other blog, but just in case, click HERE to see the pictures from our maternity photo shoot.

The first part isn't necessary to read if coming from here, so just scroll down for the pictures.

Let's talk about bad words (again)

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The First Hair Cut!

Yes, I make very bald babies. Ella, my blonde haired mini-me, ~started~ to grow hair at 2. Allie? Yeah - bald at 2. You know, maybe I'm totally lying here. I just went back and looked at pictures and both kids had that little tufts of hair at 2. But at 3, Ella's hair was definitely longer than Allie at 3.

Regardless, Allie just had her first haircut. Ella? This was her 2nd haircut. First in a salon though - in fact, I took them to see ~my~ stylist (who was appalled at how badly my hair looks like right now. Appointment is set for the 17th.) so they both got the treatment. Oh yeah - Wash, condition, massage, cut, blowout and style. They freaking loved it! Here is the proof...

Allie getting her wash:


All ready for the cut:


Blowout!


Now it was Ella's turn. The first cut was done at one of those kid's places and they sucked royal monkey ass. It was all gimmick, no talent. So, my guy is showing me just how much he's going to have to cut to fix it:


She was terrified here. I could see it in her face how scared she was. But she wanted to show how brave she was trying to be, so we got this fake smile. Awww, my little sweetpea. I spent the rest of the time after the picture holding her hands and telling her what a brave girl she was!


Here she is in mid-cut. She loved the cape. Seriously.



I don't know why I didn't take after pictures. They were twirling around in the salon, letting their hair fly. Oy vey. They liked it a little too much. Looks like I may have little girls who like a nice salon experience instead of a fast and cheap cut. Ah well, at least it's something I totally agree with as a necessary expenditure! (It was cheap anywho - only $15/kid. If I got it done? $40. Cut/color? $130. ugh.)

How much junk mail do ~you~ get?

Every now and again, a company will do something that I just think is great. And as you know, I'm not a reviewing blog or anything of the like, but I wanted to tell you about another cool company. I told you about MommyTags the other day, but this site helps the Earth. Oh, and you too (directly).

It's a site called GreenDimes. Have you heard of it? You can get a free account ~or~ a paid account. The differences between the two is with the paid service, they do all the work for you and with the free account, they give you the instructions. (Personally, I picked the paid service, but I don't have a lot of free time.)

What they do is reduce your junk mail. I signed up at the end of August and I have already seen a ~huge~ reduction in my mailbox. I don't get any of the advertisements like that blue envelope "valupak", "pre-approved" credit applications, insurance, grocery store circulars, etc. BUT, the best thing is, if I ~wanted~ any of these types of advertisement, say I really like the grocery store circulars, I can opt to remain on the list. I personally don't want anything in the mail, so I chose to opt to remove my name from all the national lists.

The second ULTRA cool thing is how they deal with catalogs. I was confused at first, thinking they would stop everything and I had to tell them which ones I wanted to keep. I thought that would be hard, as I didn't know what ones I wanted off hand. But I had it all backwards. When I receive a catalog I do not want, I simply login to my account and click the "select catalog" button. They have virtually every catalog in their database (if they don't, you can submit it to be added) and you simply click "add". Voila! They take care of the rest. (well, that's with the paid account. I think with the basic account, they'll give you the instructions on who to contact to remove your name.) Since I have started adding in catalogs on 10/09/08, I have removed myself from 59 catalogs. FIFTY NINE!!! I had no idea I even got that many.

What ~I~ do is when I get the mail, I take all the catalogs (lots since it's xmas season) and put them on my desk next to my computer. The next time I sit down, I simply take the ones I don't want to receive again and use that as my "to do" list. I hop on the website and add them as I go. It's SO easy. SO EASY. If there is a catalog I want to keep recieving, I just don't add it. Oh - and if you want to get back ON the catalog list for any reason, just click on the "Cancel Opt-Out" link and you'll get it again.

Another bonus with the paid service is I can have multiple housebold names under my one account. If I get a catalog in under my husband's name or my maiden name, I just have to select that name from my pull down list (I can add as many as I want for my address). They also take care of anything delivered to "occupant" or "resident". The other bonuses to the paid service is: Automatic Removal (I've already spoken to this, but there are some places that make you send in written requests. GreenDimes will mail you a stamped postcard to sign and all you have to do is pop it in the mail.), Monthly Monitoring (continual monitoring of your name on junk mail lists), Unlimited Household name, 5 trees planted and 24/7 Customer Service (Not that it's hard to figure out, but when you do have a question, they get back to you immediately. And they are super nice too).

The paid service costs $20 and the free service is free. Actually, THEY PAY YOU $1 for signing up! When you click on "sign up", the first thing you get to pick is what you want done with your dollar. You can choose to have a tree planted for it. You can choose to get a free issue of Plenty Magazine. Or you can choose to have the $1 mailed to you. Pretty freaking cool, eh?



As you can see, I have added a text link above and a button below. You can click on either to start the sign up process. And, if you can't do it today, I put in a button on my sidebar for you to come back to later.

The nursery is really done now.

I had the nursery pretty much done a few weeks ago, but I knew I wanted to add in a full size bed. So after buying a bed and another purchase at Pottery Barn Kids, I'm done. (okay, still not quite true, as we're waiting for the rest of the orange curtains to be in stock, but that's a minor issue.)

Here you can see the completed bed in a few different shots. I don't really like the dust ruffle, but it's hard to find a color that matched. So until then, I'm sticking with plain ole white.


There isn't too much room left between the end of the bed and the crib/shelf, but this space really isn't needed to be big. I think it's just fine. And since I'm not lucky enough to have a large sized room like so many nursery pictures I see around the blog world, I have to make due, right?


Here is a close up of the throw rug. It matches just so well. The part you can't see is where the stripes turn dark blue, matching the comforter perfectly.


Nothing has changed on the crib, but hell, I just like it enough to show it again.


I'm not big on stuffed animals. In fact, I'm actually quite against them. Kids simply get ~too many~. I have packed up bags and bags (the large lawn bags too) of stuffed animals and stuck in storage. They have so many, they didn't even notice! However, I think every kid should have a few. These are the ones I've gotten Karl so far. I'm so lucky to have found the perfect colored orange ones.


Here is the swing. It's just being stored here right now, as it'll move out into the living room eventually. The only thing I don't like about it is the color, but the darker colored ones weren't this soft. And I am a believer in the swings that swing both ways. Ella liked to be swung side to side, Allison front to back. Swings are worth their weight in gold to me.


The first of the punk posters we are leaving in his room is from a Shellac and Fugazi show Tom and I road tripped it to Chicago to see.


I had this one before I met Tom, but it's so cute, it's almost made for a nursery.


Okay, except for maybe one little part of the poster. ~wink~


Last week I was packing up all the halloween decorations we had just stuck in the garage and I told Tom there was still a skull in the baby's room. Off he went to get it. A moment later he returned empty handed and said "I vote to keep it in his room." I just had to laugh because as I sent Tom off to go get it, I had the same thought. The skull has since picked up an accessory.


This is me looking pretty fucking hot tonight. I love not only the no makeup look, but also the ridiculous nightgown, crazy hair and the dark circles under my eyes from getting zero sleep lately.

The perfect Christmas gift ...

... for almost anyone. I don't know if anyone reads this blog but not my other one, but just in case you don't read my infertility and pregnancy blog, check it out today. I reviewed the coolest gift for just about anyone!

Here, I'll make it easy for you. Click HERE.