Thoughts for Thursday

I decided I’d give Thoughts for Thursday a try. My thought is why are we so scared. When I was a kid I was let loose and had to be home at 6pm for dinner and at the curfew whistle 9pm in the winter 10pm in the summer. Our neighborhood stretched across about a mile along a highway. If we were up to any shenanigans, parents would be getting a call. Everyone knew who everyone was, and you knew who the “strange” ones, i.e. pedophiles,were and were told not to go near their homes. We didn’t have traveling squads for everything, unless you made the all star team for little league, which was at the end of the season. We had pick up games for baseball and basketball. We had regular forts in the summer, and snow forts for snowball fights in the winter. We played king of the hill and had a ice skating rink in our park. We actually used the park, we would swing high, flip off the teeter-totters, and get that merry go round going so fast someone was sure to get sick. We rode our bikes everywhere, there were no rides places, if we wanted to go swimming it was a 2 mile bike ride to the flowage with seaweed and leeches, not to the pool, that has to have a waterslide. We used this thing called our imagination and pretend to be anything and everything. We did have Atari but it didn’t consume our lives. We camped out in back yards, climbed trees, and played flashlight tag. What has happened in the last 15 yrs that we now seem to live shuttered up in our homes, afraid to let our children out because they are going to get kidnapped and molested? Why does every sport have to be run through an organization to be fun, or worthwhile? I told someone I was going to have the boy, 11, walk 2 blocks to the middle school in the dark, 6:30pm in the winter, to basketball practice and they thought I was crazy. Seriously have we become that scared we can't have a kid walk two blocks. Or have we become that busy that we can't get to know anyone anymore. I'd much prefer my backyard neighbor to come talk to me about her concerns about my dog, than calling the cops, which I'm sure have better things to do, like fight crime, than be bothered with my dumb dog. I worry that my daughter will miss out on all the fun I had as a kid.

Esty

Esty, where have you been all my surfing life. I have spent to much time on this site yesterday and today. I bought Peanut Butter the cutest, way too expensive hat. I couldn't resist, I had to have her make it in purple. I normally will not pay that much for a hat she'll probably lose, but I loved it. I have been considering getting one for myself. I cannot believe all the cool stuff on here. I may have to make a wish list for Christmas.

As for naughty girl she was pretty good today. A jabber box, but a good girl. She had a hoot kicking the big ball around the living room tonight. She also had a good time pouring out my soda on the carpet, so maybe she wasn't so good. I'm hoping she'll sleep the night in her crib. Whoever I told that I loved snuggling with her while I sleep, well not so much anymore. She only snuggles right when she come into our bed after screaming her head off. Then she takes over pushing me off the bed, or she sleeps the wrong way, so her feet are constantly kicking my back, and it she should happen to stray across to J's side of the bed, plunk he drops her right back on my side usually on my head or hair. I usually put her back in her crib when I get up for work at 4:50, but I now enjoy having her wake her daddy, by banging his head with the TV remote wanting him to turn on Sesame Street. She was good for a whole week sleeping in her crib, I think the cosleeping while we were in gooberville reverted her.
I'm also trying to ween her from the nuk, I'll let her sleep with it, but I'm trying to get her out of having it during the day. She seams to be doing okay with that, granted it's only been a couple days.

Naughty Girl

I pick up Peanut Butter from daycare today and I get the news, "She's been pulling hair today. We caught her three times." I said oh we've been having a bit of a problem with that. They said they gave her a talking to, which I'm sure made sense in her 15 mo old brain. I'm not sure how to get her to stop. I've tried a number of things. She seems to do it to me when she's either mad or tired. She's been trying to stand on her car again, before I had a chance to stop her she was up and wham she was down. She seems to be going through a naughty phase.

Cranky

Cranky, that's how I'm feeling today. I'm afraid I've taken it out on the family too. Peanut Butter started it though:) She was horrible when she got up from her nap today. Just plain naughty and tantrum throwing. I tried to take some photos for our cards. I'm not sure I like them it's down to these two.

Shopping

Thanksgiving went ok. Peanut Butter was pretty good on the ride up. I think the dvd player helped. Turkey day food was good. PB got it all over. She had a rough afternoon with another little girl. She took everything from PB and after about an hour, PB had had enough and grabbed the girl's hair with both fist and shook. I had a hard time prying her fingers off, she was quite angry. We then went and took a nap. I guess the other girl is going through the whole another baby in the house issues, and is very possessive.
Today I went shopping by myself for a whole day. I wish I had longer, I didn't get nearly enough done. I got shopping done for my secret santa. I wish they would make shoes in size eleven. I couldn't find a pair to save my life. I am also having problems figuring out what to get people for Christmas. I may just wing it and hope people are happy. I can't believe I couldn't find anything I liked at ON for PB it has to be a first.

Tired

Seriously, I am beat tired. I am getting depressed because I am so tired. On top of being tired, I still have this nagging sinus problem. I am not looking forward to getting up early again tomorrow. I am not looking forward to packing yet tonite. I am not looking forward to work tomorrow, even though I only have to work 6 hrs. I am not looking forward to a 5 hr car ride with possible snow with a 15mo old, while driving at my worst time of the day, when it's getting dark; I have a hard time focusing. I am not looking forward to gooberville. I almost broke down tonight, the tears started, but I said suck it up there are single moms who do this everyday, you've only done it a week. I did get a good haircut today. I was happy about that. I said, I wish I could do the posh cut, and she said well, you probably could. I said no, hers is a little too much. So she cut it a little inverted. It doesn't look anything like posh's hair, but I really like it. We'll see how much I like it tomorrow when I have to style it. I'll post a pic when I get a chance. Well, I'd better be off to pack and sleep.

Have a Happy Turkey Day.

Kisses

It was a long day. Peanut Butter was rarin' to go when I got home from work. She was bobbing on the stroller and then she gave us kisses. They taught her how to do it at day care, but I rarely get her to do it for me. My mom was here for the weekend watching PB while I was at work since J is off hunting. It was nice, PB was in a good mood all weekend and was a big ham for Nana. Nana brought some delicious chocolates that she got in Belgium along with a cute little outfit for PB and a stuffed animal rabbit. It was all very nice. Thanks Nana. You can kind of see the botched hair cut in the video. I fixed it as best I could today. It looks a lot better.

What was I thinking?

Peanut Butter needed her bangs trimmed, so I trimmed them. After they dried they were still in her eyes, so I trimmed them a little more, or should I say a little too much. Then she wouldn't stay still to even them out. I'm devastated, I can't believe what I did to my daughter. I am too embarrassed to even post a photo. Maybe tomorrow after I try to fix them again. She is going to so look like Dora. What was I thinking?

Deer Hunting

J left for "the land" for deer hunting today. It has been irritating me for weeks. He's been building up this whole week he's going to be away and wonders why I'm pissed about it. I know he's been doing it for the last how many years, I don't care that he goes, it's the fact that I never go anywhere anymore and am a tad jealous, and dropping off PB at 5:30 am at daycare isn't the easiest thing, I have no idea how single parents do what they do everyday. I dream of having a weekend away, let alone a week. I've been considering going to Scrapfest in Texas, but I don't know if I can afford it. I'm a little afraid to meet the online people in person, I have this preconceived notion of who everyone is and don't want to ruin it. I'm on the fence. I have decided that since I'm going to miss Black Friday, being in gooberville, next Sunday I am going out into the world by myself, a day without PB trying to be Houdini getting out of the cart or trying eat every package that I place in the cart. I will take time to try things on, hem and haw, without worrying that she is now standing on the seat trying to climb out or sneak under the door into someone else's dressing room. I will be able to spend more than 15 minutes in the scrapbook store, shopping for my secret santa. Though I talk big, I would miss my Peanut Butter so much if I went away for a weekend. Like I told J, I chose her to be my life now. He said I need a night out. I'm like I quit drinking what would a night out do for me, unless it was dinner and a movie. I could handle that. I miss movies in the theater.
I suppose you're still wondering what or where is gooberville. It is my hometown, though my parents no longer live there. It is a population of about 1000, and our whole main street is just about all bars. I think there are probably 20 of them. Drinking is the past time. In the winter it is a snowmobiling mecca, and there are 4 ski hill in the area. We have what is called the lower block of what is our main street. And what is the lower block you ask? Its where the 5-6 strip joints are. It is on the border with Michigan and they have all the stores, well had them, they do have Kmart, and it sound like wally world is coming to take over, so there won't be much shopping on Black Friday. It's just depressing. J now owns land there with a guy at work who is also from there. It is weird how many of us from gooberville do what we do.Yes, I knew who he was, everyone knows everyone and he graduated with my brother. The only bad thing is the few people I would still consider my friends I haven't talked to in years. I was thinking about dropping one a card letting her know I was going to be in the area and see if she wanted to get our girls together and play. I haven't seen either one of her daughters. I guess I just fear the rejection of why now, and don't mail it.

Hello? It's for you.

I took Peanut Butter to JC Pennys today for some photos. I was fairly happy. I got a bit nervous when she screamed for about 15 min of the 30 min car ride before falling asleep. Apparently that little nap did wonders because she was raring to go after that. I picked out 2 different poses. One she has my, " aren't I the cutest thing" look. It is too funny. We did lunch and some grocery shopping and got my oil changed. She was a card when we got home, yelling and running, I was just waiting for her to drop to the floor and fall asleep, but she kept going. She has started to figure out the play phone. We, or should I say I, have been talking into it like someone's calling and handing it to her. They make that cord so darn short these days. I'm amazed that thing still sells. Does anyone have a rotary phone any more? Today she was sitting on her car with the phone. I can't believe she thinks she need a cell phone already.

Stairs

PB went down stairs by herself for the first time today. Of course, no one saw her do it. J said she was watching TV on our bed and he went to take a shower. He came out and walked by the stairway and she laughed at him and he looked down and there she was sitting on the landing. Thankfully she didn’t fall and break her head open. We haven’t gated them going down because she has never really looked at or attempted going down. But I’ve been wondering when she was going to try them. The other night she was staring down them like she wanted to try. She pushed the laundry basket I had sitting on the top of the stairs down, and ran into our room and found one of the remotes and threw it down. She’s pretty good at getting up them. I sometimes wonder if I give her too much freedom. She pretty much has free reign on the lower floor. We don’t have a bathroom on the lower floor to be playing in the toilet, and I have the stairway up gated. I just let her do her thing and if she starts getting in too much trouble, like climbing up on to the sofa table I stop her. And there isn’t too much to get into upstairs, I usually shut the bathroom door and the sometimes the door to my scrap room, but she loves playing with my ribbons which are currently in a box on the floor, which is easy access for her. I’m just not a hoverer, I’d rather she learn and figure out things on her own. I sit and play with her and read her books when she lets me; she wants to flip, flip, flip the pages. But for the most part I let her be her independent self, when she wants me, she lets me know, which never fails to be in the middle of making dinner.

-

Six down and one day of work to go. I am looking forward to my days off. I don’t really have any plans for them. I might try and get Peanut Butter in for some photos. I need to figure out what to do for Christmas cards too. I should get my haircut, but that might have to wait until next week. I was so disappointed with the photos that we taken at daycare. They had a photographer come in. Last year my photos were so good, I had a hard time choosing. This year, the teachers raved about how she smiled and such, so I was excited to get the proofs, and I was, to be honest, pissed when I saw the proofs. I told J to make sure her sweatshirt wasn’t zipped all the way up when he dropped her off, but someone zipped it way up, and someone combed her hair all forward so she looks like that little boy off of eight is enough. I swear on the form I said no stuffed animals and there she is, in the one photo she actually had a smile, next to this huge white cheesy bear. And in 2 others on a bench with a big white cheesy bunny? It’s not even close to being Easter. In most of them she has this duh look. I should scan them and post them, but I’ll obey the whole copyright thing. I need get some done to give out at Christmas. I just wish we had someone local other than Wal-Mart that did inexpensive photos. The place I had most of hers done is $79 for 3 5x7s and 4 wallets. And after I was treated at the last shoot, I don’t think I’ll go back.

I finished another book off of my list today, Jennifer Government. It was a decent read. I cruised through it. I didn’t think that I would like it after the first chapter, but I ended up getting into it. It is based in the future where companies and corporations basically run the world and one company decides to murder to boost profits. Everyone’s last name is based on who you work for, hence the agent investigating the murders, Jennifer Government.

Sleep

Sleep, oh do I need some. I had the harebrained idea to come into work at 2 am this morning. I need a little overtime; otherwise Santa may not be visiting our house. I got to go to bed at 8pm, but Peanut Butter got up about 15 min after I laid down, so I brought her to bed with me and we fell asleep. About 10:20 pm she started coughing and woke me up, I put her back in her crib and tried to fall back asleep. About 11:00 I had to turn on the TV for some noise to fall asleep to and of course PB woke up again about 11:15. I let her cry for a bit, but when she starts shrieking, I can’t take it, so I brought her back to bed and J joined us and we all fell asleep. And then the alarm at 12:45 am, yep, 12:45 am, an of course my clock is set about 15 min ahead so it’s 12:30, I hit snooze a few times and drag my behind out at 1 am. So since 4:50 am yesterday, I've had about 4 hrs of sleep. I got really tired around 5am, but since then I’ve been ok. I really need a nap at this point, my contacts are pasted to my eyes, I have a sinus headache, a bit of heartburn, and I can’t stop eating, which is the biggest pitfall. All that for an extra hundred dollars.

Speaking of Santa, I’ve been looking for something different to get PB for Christmas. I’ve been looking online at Moolka.com. They have some neat stuff. I’m considering: the cow, the monkey, this doll, or this one.

I was looking at their cars to get my cousin’s son one and all the ones I like are out of stock, like this one so I might get this or this. He’s a little more than a month older than PB. I'm considering the stack of blocks for PB also.

All the boy wants is and xbox or ps3 and if he get either one, I'm thinking that is about all he's getting. He's at that age where he's so hard to buy for. I've can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I might give up on buying him books, otherwise I'll just have to buy him the ones I want to read. Like the Dark Materials series, since people want to make an up roar about boycotting it, I must read it.

I was reading zoe's blog about the bratz doll, which will never be allowed in this house, and appropriate clothes for kids, and agree, I don't know why it's become okay to sexualize little kids.

It Is Getting Colder

Well, it's starting to get colder. It has been consistently in the 40's and as usual I am freezing in the house. We have the heat set at 67 in the day and 64 while we are sleeping. I have to have a long sleeve shirt, pants and my slippers on now to keep from freezing. J is so warm blooded, I swear he'd turn the heat off. I used to be that way years ago, but now I'm cold all the time. I think Peanut Butter has his warm bloodedness. I bought her some old navy slippers to keep her toeses warm, she worn them for about 10 minutes and ripped them off and threw them over the gate at the dog.
PB and I went to Madison this afternoon to get a winter coat and some snow pants. I found a cute set at Target and bought it, but then I went to BabiesRus and found a cute set there that was on sale for $10 less. So I bought that one and returned the other to Target. PB would not leave her shoes on, which is funny because I was looking for a new pair for her and I lost one in Shopko. I don't know how , but I found it under a rack of clothes. But I didn't find a new pair for her.
We ate dinner at Panera Bread and they had some funky jazz on. PB thought it was great, she danced in her high chair as she ate. She must have been hungry because she ate a whole turkey and cheese sandwich. I had the fuji apple salad. It's currently my favorite thing there.
She's been a stinker lately. She pushed her car up to the coffee table and climbs up. For some reason she thinks she's so cool up there. As soon as she gets up there she says hey, and you look and she either waves or laughs. Today she got up there and started dancing to Dragon Tales. She's lucky she's so stinkin' cute.

Your firstborn's story

This list of questions is making the blog rounds, and since I loved reading everyone else's here's mine.


1. What were your reactions? Complete shock, I thought it would've taken longer than 2 months off of Depo, since they say don't expect anything for a year.
   
2. How old were you? 31 when I found out 32 when I had her.
3. How did you find out your were pregnant? J, out of the blue, said I think you're pregnant, I laughed, bought a pregnancy test to prove him wrong and it was positive, and so were the next 3.
   
4. Who did you tell first? my mom
   
5. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes, it took 2 ultrasounds.
   
6. Did you deliver early or late? A day early
   
7. Did you have morning sickness? Only when I took my prenatals in the morning before I ate.
   
8. What did you crave? Culvers chocolate shakes, ice cream in general, I had a strong adversion to fish.
   
9. Who irritated you the most? No one
10. What was your first child’s sex? Girl
11. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? I'm embarassed to say, but a whopping 50.
    
12. Did you have any complications? I was borderline for preeclampsia. I dumped a ton of protien,had leg swelling beyond belief, but no high blood pressure.
    
13. Where did you give birth? At the hospital
14. How many hours were you in labor? 0, I went in to be induced, but apparently my contractions were about 5 min apart by the afternoon. I didn't feel any of them and they checked to see how dilated I was and found out the baby was in the breech position so I chose a c-sect instead of trying to turn the baby.
    
15. Who drove you to the hospital? J
16. Who watched? J, they almost forgot to bring him in.
    
17. Was it natural or c-section? C-sect
18. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Yes
19. How much did your child weigh? 9 lbs 7 oz
    
20. Did you child have any complications? None, other than being breech
    
21. What did you name him? Maggie Janet
    
22. How old is your first born today? 15 months
    

Lost to Navy??

Notre Dame lost to Navy for the first time in 43 years, and it has to happen the first time we go to a Notre Dame game.

We drove to Michigan City, IN, on Friday. Our map quest directions we a wee bit off, but we finally found our hotel. We freshened up, changed, and went for dinner at the Heston Supper Club. They had the best prime rib I've ever eaten. It was fantastic. I had the perch too, which was fine. If you go, be prepared for a long dinner. I think we were there for an hour and a half, with no dessert. We headed back to Michigan City and I said, hey we haven't been to a movie since before Peanut Butter was born, so we found the local cineplex and saw Dan in Real Life. I really liked it, a romantic comedy. Steve Carell is awesome.

We left for South Bend fairly early and got to the College Football Hall of Fame around 9:30. We walked around for about and hour and a half. We had been there before, so it wasn't as interesting as the first time. But a decent place to see if you're interested in that sort of thing. We headed toward Notre Dame and ate brunch at Bob Evans. I had their pumpkin bread slices; they were delish. So much for eating well, but I justify it being vacation. We got to Notre Dame around noon and J was like a kid in a candy store. He was excited, he's been a Notre Dame fan his whole life. We had been on campus before, but never to a game. The campus is beautiful and there was still some fall color left. There of course were tons of "my"people, as J called them. We saw touchdown Jesus, bought some fleeces, walked to the church, the golden dome, to the fountain they dye green for game day, and around the stadium. We went in the stadium about an hour before the game, the view from the top was amazing.

The game was pretty good, why Notre Dame didn't try to kick a field goal to try and win at the end of the 4th quarter is beyond me. 3 OTs, it was pretty exciting. It was such a let down when they lost. We left right away and luckily got to the shuttle to the parking lot and made the second bus, they family in front of us said last time they waited 45 min to get back. We got out of the lot and on the express way right away and made pretty good time back. We picked up Peanut Butter at 10:20. She was excited to see us. Our friends said she was really good.

All in all it was a great get away. I had a lot of fun, though I did miss my PB.