ummm........chockit!

after some time with aunt nina, jenny's love for chocolate candy has grown by leaps and bounds.
just like a grown woman with PMS, she has been having a chockit fit about every other day now. she knows where it is and she will open the drawer and try to talk us into giving her some.

but jenny is now only allowed chocolate candy if she pees or poops in potty. since it is such a huge motivator for her, i'm trying to use it to my advantage to see if she "knows the potty feeling" and is just not telling me it is time....
it hasn't worked yet but she sure knows the connection. she talks about "run to potty and chockit" all day.

she has been very willing to sit on the potty bare booty for about 30 minutes total each day. for about a week. usually she is the one to suggest it. yay!

i have this new lift the flap "corduroy" beach book that she likes to read there for a long time. she has like 200 books and she picks this one to look at for some reason. she lifts every flap and i ask her to point out about 100 items on the pages and i drag it out for like 10 minutes, because when we are done with the book she usually tries to stand up and claim she is "done".

she will stare down into her potty, all but sticking her head fully into it, and say "some?"
i conclude that that means "did i do something?"

i tried her dora panties on her to see if they fit. well she thought that was the bees knees. afterwards she wanted to wear them over her diaper but i am saving them for the special occasion of potty success. i want them to seem like a grand prize.
"panties are only for big girls who use the potty all the time like momma".

i think they should make dora panties in my size and maybe that would motivate her even more.......

self-spanking child

what does it mean when your 20 month old behaves badly in the backseat and then yells
"bad!"
"pank!"
and promptly lifts her jeans up and spanks her own leg?

i decided that it means "yay me! my child is learning to help others!"
one less thing for me to do, pulling over on the side of the road to spank that leg.
too bad that she is not spanking herself hard enough..........
but i give her E for effort.

pics of the diva

it was requested that i please post more often, and you've got to give the people what they want. so i'm really going to make an effort.
it has been awhile since i posted Jenny pics... and lets face it, that's all "the people" really want, so here is a few recent shots:

Dress up in Aunt Nina's bedroom

Check out my bustle

Mastering the barbie shoe (one shoe at a time)

Big smile as Hankers looks on

This is why we really can't bring ourselves to send Little Dee to "live at the farm"
or as the Christophers say "take Little Dee for a ride"

that good for nothing- pee on the couch -fattie

hate hate hate

okay so this post has a negative theme but i have just been really making a mental list the last few weeks of things that i hate. They just keep coming to me, and its probably just a phase of pregnant irritability. Lets just see if any of you relate to me??

things that i HATE:

1---cleaning out the fridge----UUUGGGHH is all that I have to say.

2---when underwear don't act right. This is a problem that normal folks have, but for a pregnant woman the problem seems to be worse. I am not sure if it is the belly bulging or the maternity pants but something is making my underwear fall down all the live long day. If anybody ANYBODY out there reading this knows of some super maternity underwear i can buy please leave a comment.

3---the weird noises my cat and dog make when i am trying to sleep. Hank likes to make a smack smack SMACK noise with his mouth that pushes me over the edge. Dee likes to lick lick LICK his whole entire body while he lays all over us on our queen size.
These noises are in addition to the following less common but still annoying noises:
hank yelping in sleep
hank snoring in sleep
dee puking who knows where---must get out of bed and investigate
dee bellaring so you will get out of bed and let him down to the basement
dee banging his paw on basement doorknob
dee scraping in his litterbox for 10 minute intervals

4---"pop-by" people. Seriously I am one of those people who is not usually fully clothed when at home.

5---book jackets. Among the 80,000 other items in my house that could probably be thrown away is a scattering of book jackets. Sometimes you just have to say screw it and throw them away.

6---when i forget about a load in the clothes washer and I discover it days later with super funky mildew smell

7---when a company stops making a product that i really like. or maybe the product just becomes hard for me to find and then i assume it is on its way out.
Here are some of the companies on my list:
st. ives-----------whipped silk lotion
post cereal-------blueberry morning
campbell's-------supper bakes meal in a box
betty crocker----cookbook meal in a box
outback----------sydney's sinful sundae and shrimp on the barbie
healthy choice----cappuccino chocolate chunk ice cream

8---rice. i keep trying to cook uncooked rice in casseroles (the directions say use uncooked) and it is always never done cooking when it should be. then i have to cook it for eons til the rice (aka rocks) is done. then my chicken is probably WAY overcooked. seriously that enrages me. why would campbell's soup lie to me????!!!

9---make up. I am not sure what age did I realize that make up was evil. Probably got tired of the whole routine about age 18.
This was followed by a 5 yr time period where I was in the mindset "its a necessary evil".
THIS was followed by a 5 yr time period where I was in the mindset "give me a BREAK".
I mean-- tell me, men, what is it like to wake up everyday and you look in the mirror and you are like:
"yep that is me. here i come world"
cause let me fill you in on what it is like for a woman:
"ugh. lots to do. what can i do to that face, what can i paint over that ugliness, to make myself presentable to the world?"
either we say "oh here let me smear on all this crap to cover up my ugliness"
or we say "don't feel like it today, I guess I'll just look like crap"
no wonder girls have such a HUGE self esteem problem!!!!!

10---the heat. if you know me at all, you know how i adore the AC. I dread the approach of summer. what is so great about sweating yourself to death and bug bites etc. not to mention wishing you could wear minimal clothes but knowing that you need to keep that junk hidden to avoid scaring small children. and don't even get me started on summer make up issues.

11---how i am always late to church. i have discussed this once in a previous post and just as an update---i'm still battling being late probably 90% of the time and here comes baby #2. woo hoo.

12---that Chattanooga area parks are not very dog friendly. seriously wish they'd hurry up with the "rails to trails" project here in soddy so we could stop the trek to greenway farms which is not exactly 100% stroller friendly.

13---shaving. another reason to hate summer. not to mention that it is already getting difficult for my hobbit self to shave my legs due to the big belly. much worse the bigger the belly gets.
lets not forget the "bikini area".
I want to take this opportunity to thank whatever genius woman (or probably man) came up with the idea to shave THAT.
any and i mean ANY quest of shaving/waxing even one hair "there" is going to result in heartache eventually.

14---pit bulls. ever since i was probably 10 years old, when that first pit bull killed one of our dogs, I have learned that they are no good. and I'm telling you they know how to find me. after several more encounters with the pit bulls, (all vicious dog fights that resulted in our dogs dying) i moved all the way to PA and do you know that our very first day in our new home, we sat on the porch and looked across the street to see a couple of devils chained up in the yard. after a few encounters with those heatherns we forked it out for a chain link fence. now here in soddy we are only occasionally threatened by some redneck idiot's wandering pit bulls that roam thru our yard.

15---coming up with dinner ideas and knowing that that is my fate for the next 50 yrs.

and to close this gripe fest i will add one thing that i do truly love and that is.......
I LOVE maraschino cherries!!!!!

swapper revealed

I participated in a swap hosted by my old friend Teale. The theme was "my favorite things".
We were given another participant's mailing address, someone we may or may not know, and we mailed this person 2 of our favorite things.
Teale got my name and address, and this is what I received from her:
a sonic gift card and softlips.

A long time supporter of the Rt. 44 Cherry Limeade, I can really appreciate this gift.

Also I currently am in need of lip balm since my lips are still chapped from being sick a month ago. And I am a big make up hater, so the extra little bit of jazz that softlips has in it might just take me from thugly to presentable.
(keyword --MIGHT)

thanks Teale! This was lots of fun!
(and it was really hard to pick just 2 things to send)

(p.s. speaking of hating makeup, more to come on "things that i hate")