Moo Cow Mom and Sir Solitude

Jenny was thinking..... wouldn't it be fun if we pretended to be at the stable on night of Jesus' birth?
she was only talking about it, and i was hoping she wouldn't soon have me digging around pulling out sheets for us to wear and tying sheets to our head.
my mind was cranking, eyes scanning the room---what could i use to tie sheets to our head?

this is the cast assigned by director Jenny:

Daddy is Joseph
Troy is baby Jesus
Jenny is Mary.....

(do you see where this is going?)

Momma is .........a cow

BA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

i don't know who could possibly read that without laughing.

oh and she said Little Dee could play an angel. a boy angel.
HE COULD NEVER PASS FOR THAT!

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Tonight we talked about how God loves everybody, even Little Dee.

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Jenny had to potty.
Toilet needed to be flushed.
ok ready, set, go.
She likes her privacy lately. She shut the door as she was pulling down pants and preparing to make her acrobatic climb onto the big person potty. She called for me. I opened door and she informed me of her problem:
"the potty doesn't want me to sit on it"

the toilet was still running (filling up) making water noise!!

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Troy likes to go into his room and shut door. i have been calling him "Sir Solitude". if you open door he will flash big grin to you. he thinks it is so fun to be by himself.

tonight he came out of his bedroom and he had such a "knowing" grin. he had a big children's bible held tight to his chest and he was hugging and swinging left to right which is a motion that he only does for bibles and babies. he was saying bible over and over. there is always about 50 books pulled off shelf into his floor. HOW did he know that was a bible?

Jenny funnies

Jenny will start to have a hissy fit and often gets sent to her room. i tell her that i will come talk to her when she stops crying (aka lecture her). this is a common routine. sometimes she will stop crying and call for me, or poke her head out of her bedroom door, and she will quietly say:
"momma, i think i can control myself now"

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reading "the Christmas story" golden book about baby Jesus:

Jenny is very concerned about all the townspeople of Bethlehem not having any shoes on. also discussed are concerns about bare feet of angels and shepherds.

then the footwear of Mary, Joseph, King Herod and the wise men is critiqued and admired.

another point of interest is the wise men having only one camel. she is worried about the 2 wise men who travel on foot.

me---------"well maybe they take turns riding."
jenny------"yeah, one can ride in front and then the other one gets a turn riding in the front."

and then referring to the staff (or walking stick) that one wise man is holding:

jenny------"and they can take turns holding the stick"

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today my girl had some of the "random pukes" as we call it. she is just now at this age agreeing to puke in a toilet. this is a wonderful thing. for a long time i was just glad i had talked her into puking into the tub. i'm a little confused but i think if she had her way she'd like to simply puke into a towel. (horrors)

ANYWAY, today i got a real newsflash that she is growing up b/c:

1. she did not even tell us she was headed to puke, she just ran to toilet with hand over mouth
2. she made it to toilet 2 out of 2 times
   
3. she shut the bathroom door for these events
4. she quietly puked without any screaming or tears afterward
5. she managed to do this fully dressed up like princess even in her high heels/tiara

i'm getting the feeling she is gonna be one heck of a woman.

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today we put up our tree. we spent a portion of the day making room in our den for the tree. finally will brought it in. it is pre-lit. awesome.
we set it up and the kids' eyes were big as saucers. this was right before naptime. i told Jenny we would put the ornaments on right before bedtime. she was totally thrilled that "Christmas is here".

she was a little confused that Santa was coming while she slept. we told her several times that it is a couple of weeks til Santa visits.

I put Troy in his crib for nap and took Jenny to read a book and tuck in for nap. Will headed out to Taco Bell to get us some lunch.

Later Jenny was still not asleep when Will returned from town. She rarely will come out of her room at sleep time. but she heard the garage door and sacks rustling in the kitchen. we heard her tiny voice from the hall:
"Santa? is that you?"

and then when it was time to wake from nap and get ready for church, she sat on the end of her bed, looking up at me with sleepy, hopeful eyes and said:
"did i get presents??!"

Bad parenting and naked horses

Here's a dose of funnies for ya

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Just a typical morning (when Will is not home, that is). Jenny wakes me up, and our routine is TV and chill time. I was gonna try to make up for lost sleep by factoring in some "couch parenting". That is only possible if Troy is still asleep/in his crib.
I say it that way b/c if he is content to stay in crib and jabber to himself then so be it. When he starts to holler at us then we go get him and the real party begins.
So, I was snoozing in between Jenny coming and telling me all about her show, telling me she went to potty, asking for drink, for food, asking every question ever thought of.

One time when she came to me she had a giant sugar cookie with sprinkles.
She said, all casual between bites,

"I got a cookie".

I assumed that Will (who was hunting) had gotten into cookies and left the tupperware open. She is not in habit of opening containers of food.
I said "ok" to the cookie b/c i think that dentures are cool.

so then Troy started stirring. Then he hollered.
If i had to guess what he wanted to say it would be:

"hey women! i hear you! get me out of here and make me some breakfast! oh yeah, and i pooped myself!"

partially asleep i summoned my daughter to please go talk to her brother. that involves jenny just sitting in his bedroom chair and they cackle at each other. it will usually buy me about 3 minutes. b/c she ends up leaving his room and that makes him mad.

well, that's nice. it lasted much longer this time.

ok. he's mad. ok, finally i must get up and start this party. ok here i go on the count of 3. i'm really going to. ok i'm up.

Getting boy out of crib i notice he has crumbs on his butt. my sleepy brain doesn't think its odd at first b/c i am used to major crumb butt in the highchair.
but then i get confused. ??? wait a minute. oh i see.

"Jenny did you share your cookie with Troy?"

there were cookie crumbs in every nook of his body and every nook of his bed.
i brushed them all into the floor and vacuumed 3 times and then had to change crib sheet (and boy).

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bedtime around here is not quite all puff clouds and rainbows. Jenny has a habit of dragging it on and on, pulling wild tricks and carrying on. Its never a feel good moment when its been over 1 hr of all that jazz, you haven't heard a peep in 5 minutes, so you get a glimmer of hope........... only to suddenly hear Jenny say:

"momma can i wake up?"

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Jenny is all about giving her brother and Daddy a hug and kiss. they aren't allowed to go to bed without this special treatment. also Daddy can't leave house for work, hunting, jiu jitsu etc. without his proper goodbye.
there have been several times that later on she will realize she didn't get hug and kiss, and --oh have mercy-- now Daddy is gone or in his bed asleep. there is major breakdown to follow.
also she likes to walk Will to his bed like she is tucking him in.
one time when he didn't get tucked in, then there was the drama breakdown and she said:

"i didn't get to hug and kiss my daddy, and put him in bed! he's not allowed to do that anymore".

also one morning he was up in the kitchen before hunting. it was about 5am. she stirred and so he went and covered her up. then i heard him opening garage and leaving.
enter Jenny into the den with bucket of tears:

jenny--"my daddy is gone! my daddy is gone!"
me-----"he is only going hunting!"
jenny--"i didn't get to give him hug and kiss!!!!"

girl got back into bed and back to sleep, but she was torn up b/c she didn't know that he was leaving the house.

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Last night the kids were in the car watching "horse movie" as we call it---proper name "Spirit".
boy you just never do know what they are gonna say, do ya?

"Mommy why are horses naked all the time?"

Thanksgivings in Arkansas

I was thinking that I'd like to start a little stash of posts called Childhood Memories.

You know, its bad enough that people are all the time telling me to remember every morsel of these magical years with my children. telling me that i will forget so much if i don't write it down.

not to mention my OWN childhood----got to make some records of those memories also.

so in that spirit, i bring forth the first post of childhood memories devoted to Thanksgivings past.

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in my younger years, we traditionally would spend our thanksgivings in Fordyce, Arkansas. This is where my dad's parents lived. It was all i ever knew for them, and so thinking about them living somewhere else before that farm was very odd. We did go to see them at other occasions besides Thanksgiving, but whenever i think about their farm, i imagine it chilly outside with a crunchy ground and the smell of firewood.

whenever we would visit Fordyce, it would take eons to get there. many of our trips were from Jacksonville, AL to Fordyce. it took about 11 hrs.
i remember a few times (think 1985) that we would load up our wood panel station wagon at night, making a huge pallet in the back for us 3 kids to sleep on for the duration. then we typically would attempt to leave the house at like 4am. why would we do 4am? i have no idea, but that was our travel routine.
other times i remember using pillows to make a sleeping area in backseat of car (including someone sleeping in floorboard) (that would be me, the runt, in the floor board). we finally started to get too big for that plan, and also then my brothers started to swap driving with my parents at the appropriate age. so then there was alot of seat swapping, but little sis (me) continued to get the free pass to sleep the entire way. today my brother and husband will still pick at me b/c nothing can put me to sleep faster than a road trip to Ark.
anyway, lots of long hrs in the car and as you remember there were no DVD players. it was the golden age of the walkman, however. of course we only had one or two and we would share. of course i don't remember having any of my own tapes, just listening to my brothers' music. it was alot of Huey Lewis and the News, Whitesnake, and Chicago.
other activities were reading books--- perhaps in the dark, and finding new comfortable ways to sleep in the backseat, much like a pile of puppies.
i don't remember alot of restaurant meals but what i do remember, and what was the ultimate roadtrip treat, was the pit stop at the gas station. oh, no matter what backseat coma we were in, we'd bust out of that car for a good stretch and eagerly head inside to find what deliciousness was available for noshing. one of my brothers would always come back with a giant pickle in a bag of pickle juice.

it is at this time that i want to hail my parents for giving us "food freedom" for the bulk of our childhood. we were cautioned not to ruin our appetite on many an occasion, but overall we could eat whatever, whenever. it sounds so ....bad. but i always felt that it was completely normal. i was puzzled by other families with eating "rules".
so at these pit stops we would find 1 or 2 goodies, as usual whatever we wanted to eat from the selection, and a coke (in a glass bottle, with styrofoam label to peel off, mind you).

so we would head to Ark. in this manner. there wasn't much on the way, but i do know that whenever we drove over the Mississippi River bridge, into Ark, it was a time for everyone to wake up, stop all car activities and acknowledge:

"here we are driving over the Miss. river".

it was a moment i tell you. as a child i thought that the bridge was fascinating.

bridge over the Mississippi River in Greenville, MS

so then the next thrill would be getting into Fordyce and almost to my grandparents farm (in rural Ramsey). making a turn at a little country church and then heading past the deer camp, past my great grandparents home.
then the sound.
the sound that declared to all in the car that we had arrived. arrived at grandma and papaw's.
the sound of the car driving over the cattle gap.
it was this noise that often woke me and indicated our trip was over.

looking up i would see their home, certainly with smoke coming from the chimney and cars galore in the yard.

the next thing to be noted was their carport. highlights included greetings from farm dogs (maybe Fritz or Hobo), Papaw's collection of work boots next to the steps and his chair, the firewood boxes on either side of the chimney, and their red door. but more notably the screen door which had a distinct sound and would slam loudly if care not taken.

inside was lite paneling on walls and dark 70's carpet with a few burnt spots from fire sparks, just where they had been the last time i visited. the rock fireplace with sunburst set into the stone and wood burning stove was a focal point. on either side of fireplace was the wood boxes (opening to outside) with cushion bench covers, where i would peek out the window looking for family to drive up the gravel road, deer to slip across the field or snow to fall.

to my left was Grandma's kitchen and more than likely Grandma. she had to have spent 15 hrs a day in that kitchen. she forever was cooking. things to remember in her kitchen include a vintage yellow fridge with lift out handle, rotary phone where any and all calls were made (no cells) and brown pottery style dishes serving up fried deer meat, fried taters, corn, sweet tater biscuits and an assortment of jams. when i think about her greeting us, i think about her hands being wet but warm from dishwater.

to my right was Papaw in his den. He would read his Bible or watch football in his black leather chair, or play solitaire with a real deck of cards---imagine that---at the coffee table. and when i think about him getting up to greet us, i think of a toothpick in his mouth.

creaking down the hall ---there was no way to do it quietly--- you would find 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. Memories of that area of the home include Grandma and Papaw's insanely deep feather bed, their tub with the special rubber ducky, big stash of wrigley's chewing gum in Papaw's sock drawer, a giant wall of photo frames all down the hallway, and Rhonda's bedroom closet filled with treasured toys from the 70's, all for us to play with.

there was no telling where you were gonna sleep when you all got there. because all the Williams were coming to town. back then there was gonna be 12 of us, and in later yrs there could have been 18 there at one time.

time would be passed with cooking or cleaning up meal mess for the women, hunting or football on TV for the men, and any variety of board games played at the dining room table by whomever felt the urge. Also some years we enjoyed a ladies shopping trip on Black Friday involving a road trip to Pine Bluff's mall.

but there is one thing that i enjoyed the most. the very most. even more than my Grandma's food. it was a special, special time of tradition during each visit where we would pull out a dozen song books, brought from one church building or the other, and we would have ourselves a regular gospel singing right there in the den.

i can't really explain, but that seemed to be a common ground for everyone in the room. all of us different ages, coming from different towns or states and rarely seeing one another, but during that singing was felt a union. even now when i sing gospel songs with other people, even the same songs--- no other time is it a feeling like when i was singing with my father's family.

pitch pipe, if you are unfamiliar

so after deer were skinned, songs sang, leftovers rummaged, board game pieces recovered, then we'd head back to our corners of the world. not likely to all be together again for another year.

it is these times, that cannot be revisited for many reasons, that i want to remember.

p.s. i was made very aware of how NOT organized my pictures are when i set about looking for some old Thanksgiving photos. i know they are here in my house. if i find them i'll get them on here.

Tired Men and Miraculous Birth

just a couple of laughs today:

these both happened at bedtime when we were reading stories on Jenny's bed (Troy already asleep in his crib).
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last night Jenny was asking all sorts of questions about Santa while we were reading "the night before Christmas". (it was kind of mandatory that we read a Santa book, having just been in his lap that evening.) i explained about Santa having to supervise elves all year making all the toys for all the kids in the world. and then he would have to ride all night making all those toy deliveries on Christmas Eve.
Jenny-----"what is he gonna do after he is done?"
Me------- "well he's gonna be pretty tired. he will have worked very hard all night. he's probably gonna go home and go right to sleep. kind of like your daddy working at the railroad all night long and then crawling in his bed to sleep all day, right?"
Jenny ----"those are some tired men!"




then tonight we read about baby Jesus. just a classic golden book with the bible story in it. She is forever talking or asking questions while i read. got to stop and answer a question for every page.
Jenny---"i want to be an angel"
Me------"well when you get to heaven you can ask if you can be one. it doesn't hurt to ask"
Jenny---"well, i want to have a baby in my tummy. i want to be Mary"
Me------"well.........you can't be like Mary. because God put the baby in Mary's belly"

wait a minute. thinking.....thinking......... must find a way to correct this without going into detail about Mary's ......purity.

Me------"well, God put babies in my tummy too, but Mary was extra special. some day hopefully you can be like me and have babies in your belly. after you meet Prince Charming and get married you can have babies together."
Jenny---"well........who is my Prince Charming?"

oh we are back to that again. always with the wondering, who could he be??
oh well. whew. subject changed. crisis averted.

First Santa Sighting 2010

Tonight we enjoyed some early Christmas festivities.
here are some background details---

When our congregation moved to new location, they were asked (i think by Chamber of Commerce) if they would host the community Christmas tree in our church's front "yard".
Having an annual tree lighting event has proved a fantastic way to meet more people in our community.

It is similar to an open house. (huh, that reminds me that reminiscing open house is a whole "nother" post i want to do later.)

anyway, for the tree lighting, there is Xmas music, hot beverages and one bajillion cookies (provided by church members) to be enjoyed inside the building and a long trail of paper sack luminaries leading to our tree. after the music, we all walk out to the tree and Santa rides up on a vintage firetruck covered in Xmas lights. it is a sight to behold. it makes me want to cry, its so magical, and i am 31 yrs old. Santa lights our tree up and then he is swarmed by children.

So anyway tonight, i arrived late for the music, which is for the best b/c when you are going solo with 2 tots you can't sit still and listen to anything. let me re phrase. you can't sit still, ever.
but also i arrived late b/c i was seeing the husband off to work. he only had about 30 minutes to spend with us, so that is how it went down.
when we arrived, we headed for the cafe--- Troy cruisin in his 2007 Graco. this is an "overflow" room with extra seating and a big screen displaying the music from the auditorium. also a room where people with small kids gather b/c of the previously mentioned issue-- "can't sit still"-- AND don't forget, the gigantic stash of cookies is in the cafe.
so we 3 loaded up on cookies and coffee, prepped 2 sippie cups with hot cocoa. chatted with friends and eventually made our trek to the outdoor tree.
as a mom of tots, there is a certain amount of time that i spend everyday calculating the most miniscule, routine tasks. these are actions that alot of other people perform without even noticing or knowing that it could ever be a complicated fiasco. i will think about a problematic issue and have to create a solution.
of course a critical mom skill is creatively solving surprise problems the instant that they are presented.
But i am talking about realizing that in a couple of days or even weeks there is gonna be an issue, and spending time solving that problem in the back of my mind.
one example of this being--- me tonight with Troy in his stroller and Jenny on foot. headed to the crowd at the tree right next to road (busy hixson pike). knowing from experience that the stroller did not agree to going off road onto the grassy lot where the tree was.
so days ago i knew my solution was to unfortunately abandon stroller at that point and carry Troy with me to tree. small potatoes for some people, but my boy is a BIG UN. and there's no husband with me, with big arm muscles to pawn big boy off on. also remember that i must keep close tabs on Jenny. also she can't see much b/c she is short. Can't really have her on my shoulders like Will did last yr since i am holding big boy in arms.
Enter a super sister who grabbed my girl and got her front and center to Santa and the tree also.

This is the way God intended for us to behave.
Seeing another person's need and taking care of it on the spot.
just one more thing to love about God's plan.

When the tree lit up both of my kids had stars in their eyes. Troy is speechless every day, but he was extra speechless. HA. he kept pointing to the tree.
This was the first time for Jenny to visit with that Santa. She has only been to our mall Santa until now. She stood in the swarm with me and Troy and waited her turn. it was major attack on St. Nick, so i told her to pick one thing to tell Santa that she wanted. All this time she is quiet as a mouse. when it was her turn, she reached out and wanted him to pick her up into his lap. of course this is the moment where i strain to hear, like all parents around me, what my child tells Santa. no success. Santa didn't reveal either, i suspect he could not understand her.

as we walked away i knew why he did not understand b/c when i asked what did she tell him, she said she asked him for "princess roll the dough". its the disney princess magic rise oven. so now i know what she wants the most. she informed me that she made that rational decision over the "baby kitchen" she has also been obsessing over b/c i keep telling her Santa probably doesn't bring baby toys to big girls. she wanted to make sure she told him something valid. also she rationalized that princess roll the dough is a big girl oven, and ovens are part of a kitchen.

Princess roll the dough, in the oven ready to go

Jenny talked non stop about Santa after that. Walking back to car, driving home, winding down at the house before bed.
Here are some of the statements that she made related to Mr. Claus:

• "Momma, I told you Santa was gonna come tonight, didn't I?!"

• "my wish is gonna come true!"

• "Momma, i loved seeing Santa. he is my most favorite guy" (oh boy. Daddy will love that)

• "I'm gonna be a good girl for my naps so i'm not on naughty list"

However this did not deter her from coming home and scribbling green marker all over top of her princess table (not a big deal b/c it wipes off, but it was a no no and she has never done it). after committing crime she quietly ran to her room and shut the door, and that is when i knew something was up.
and also, after lights out, tonight's shenanigans included slurping water from her nightstand sippie and spitting it all over her sheets and down onto carpet. a standard tactic for her. then proclaiming to me that her "bed is ruined!" and expecting me to change her bedding.

i guess tomorrow i'll go look for some lumps of coal.........heh heh

p.s. i was unable to take pictures tonight, but maybe i will try to bum some pics of the event off of FB friends later

Back to the Blog

Greetings from the hole that i crawled into. what a super long blog funk that was! you know you get a writers block, and then you just get out of the habit. my apologies, mostly to myself!

so i'm gonna have to make a change and start recording my best writings here once more. i see this is the easiest option for actually getting this good stuff made into a real scrapbook. besides that, i just desire to write much much more than simple brief facebook posts.

Its been a wild and utterly tiresome year, but equally a golden year-- completely maxed out on super-cute cheek-pinching joy. Children make it easy to combine the 2 complete opposite descriptions.

For my short revival post i will leave you with recent pictures of our mun chi chis playing on a fall day:

Red mini monster Troy


Little Lady Lovely Locks Jenny

more of the same

Here are December posts to facebook:
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Dec. 2------tried to feed my girl junk food for dinner. She calmly protested from her high chair "no pizza, no pizza!" then proceeded to ask for raw veggies. what is wrong with that child??

Dec. 3------the little man mr. T had his first fever. his big sister gave it to him. awww how sweet. she calls it a "tever". he's back to 98.6 currently

Dec. 5------yay yay yay!!!!! snow!!!! just a tiny fix for my major snow withdrawals but it will have to do. not any reason to get the snow shovel out but still it makes me happy. i will post some pictures soon-- jenny's first time to play in snow

Dec. 5------Here are some of my favorites of Jenny's recent mispronunciations:
lagdian------Raggedy Ann
jonah--------doughnut
chamburch--sandwich

Dec. 7------Thinking tonight about people who do not have computers or even cell phones.............. or even beds...........or other blessings that i take for granted.

Dec. 9------who has got some great advice for me regarding grocery savings?? i am trying to learn the secrets of the coupon craze. i have taken a look at southernsavers.com and coupons.com. i think i need couponing for dummies.

Dec. 9------today i went on huge target run (crammed a ton of stuff into the buggy despite both kids being in buggy) then a grocery run right after that. both kids zonked out in backseat. i am thinking SWEET. then i get to house and power is out. which means garage door won't open. which means i was locked out!! with 3 pounds raw chicken and 3 kinds of milk in the car. lucky me-- will was able to be home from work in about 1 hr.

Dec. 10-----my man T-roy just pooped in the potty. 5 months old. i am so serious. i know you are all laughing hard at me now. but i will do whatever i can think of to get jenny more interested in poop in potty!! she no longer does business behind curtain, but now she does it only in her bed (the only time she gets a diaper and also the only time that i will leave her by herself).

Dec. 11-----front page news: i woke up before my kids and got a shower and then was in the kitchen making pasta salad at 8AM. look outside and see if any pigs are flying

Dec. 12-----thinks static guard is the total bizzomb. thank you nina for showing me a few yrs ago that you can use it to tame crazy static hair

Dec. 13-----i love it when you pull up to the drive thru and jenny politely makes known her order request from the backseat. tonight at steak and shake she wanted "my very own shawby-berry milkshake and an ice cream chamburch"

Dec. 15-----we did the santa-picture-mall-extravaganza tonight. it was definitely worth it this year! do you think that if i went into their bedrooms and pinched their cheeks ---would they wake up? they are just so stinking CUTE. of course we all know why God makes children so cute........

Dec. 15-----i was reading the story of baby Jesus out of a golden book. I said that the wise men came with gifts of gold, frankincense and..........?? i waited to see if Jenny could fill in the blank. She confidently answered with "fruit roll up"

Dec. 16-----help! does anybody have a simple cookie icing recipe? i need to ice some gingerbread. i cannot find what i want at store. i want something thick that keeps the shape (but i need to be able to push it thru pastry bag) and i need it to dry up on the cookie--- not be messy.

Dec. 16-----went all betty crocker today and had to cook a jillion cookies. this bizarre event has to occur for me once every year during Christmas season. then will came home and started eating too many and i had to put the smack down.

Dec. 17-----just got rescued by the husband once again. locked myself out of house in PJ's! children INSIDE THE HOUSE watching dora. God was watching over us. There are men working on water pipes on our long country road. Today they are in my FRONT YARD. about 20 men. without them i would have had no phone. they also gave me a jacket and tried their best to get into my house until Will got home.

Dec. 17-----how many more trips to walmart before dec. 24th

Dec. 18-----My husband is going to be off work on Christmas day after all!!!! Yay!!!

Dec. 18-----its the most wonderful part.........of my day!!!! (naptime)

Dec. 19-----getting ready for Xmas party. put favorite shirt and some jeans into dryer to "fluff" out the wrinkles. fly around house doing other things to get ready to go. go to retrieve my clothes from dryer and discover that i MELTED A GREEN CRAYON in the dryer with my clothes. it was in my jeans pocket. proceeded to contort my body to wipe crayon off of every nook and cranny inside my dryer.

Dec. 24-----People! Santa Claus is coming to town!!!!!!!

Dec. 25-----this morning at 6:30 i heard my jenny shouting "the cookies are GONE momma! they're GONE!" (referring to santa's cookies and milk that we left out)

Dec. 25-----Jenny Raye SOOOOO worn out. fell asleep at 8pm in backseat while we were riding around looking at christmas lights. Troy had full dose benadryl and still stayed up later than her!

Dec. 28-----don't even think for a second that one massive 36 hr headache and a sinus bug that is slowly taking all the Christophers out one by one is going to stop ME from taking care of business with the Christmas plans. i am MOMMA after all. sigh. now all the festivities are over, i can breathe perhaps. oh......forgot --no breathing allowed. nose too stopped up.

Dec. 29-----it was time for caillou on the TV. which means for sure jenny will zone in and i can do a chore. i am busy working in her room finding places for her new toys from santa. at the end of the show she comes and asks me nicely to make her a box. "just like caillou" she persists nicely asking for me to please make her a box. what in the world. if only i had paid some attention to that episode.

Dec. 29-----had to take both my babies to doc today. just me, a 5 month old, and a doctor-phobic toddler. and it wasn't so bad. the doctor-phobe did REALLY well. i was so proud of her! i think she might be over her phobia. although she had no blood drawn or shots given........

Dec. 30-----jenny helps me bring dirty clothes to kitchen. phone rings. then she also dumps clean clothes in kitchen floor. then she is missing. then i hear her on monitor talking to troy in his crib. she says "twoy's awake!" then i make mad troy happy. then i look in kitchen and see my evil cat peeing on the misc. clothes in floor. kick cat til i feel better. turn to see jenny shoving the (empty) med syringe in troy's mouth.

Dec. 30-----troy finally acted like his big sis used to. he was mad redhead boy at outback tonight and we had to LEAVE before we could even order!! you have to understand that he is super-baby. he is sooo content 24/7. so we were like what is WRONG with the boy. even bottle would not shut him up. and he is milkman. cried some more in the car but when we got home he was super chill baby and grinning big. love parenthood! LOVE IT!

Dec. 31-----my cat is trying to make a statement by peeing where he should not. and clearly that statement is: "i want to be cremated"

Dec. 31-----midnight negotiations with jenny (she has a fever): "eat this candy and I'll give you some chocolate milk." eagerly grabs the chewable tylenol, shoves it in mouth and promptly spits it out. "I'll give you some m&m's if you'll take your medicine" "I'll bring Little Dee to sleep in your bed" "I'll bring him to your bed AND let you put a hat on him"---finally she perks up: "I need a hat for me too."

Dec. 31-----a family trip to zaxby's and then walmart. that is how we wild Christophers party. bought a couple of jazzy new year tiaras for me and jenny to wear. Will said he was ringing in the new year by purchasing a new toothbrush. i mean we are WILD. i must say, at 8pm soddy walmart was lookin great. nearly had the place to ourselves.
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OK. only one more "facebook posts" entry to come (Jan-Feb 2010) and then i promise to write a real blog entry.

Revival

OK. i am going to try to get back into blog gear.

the thought of catching up is so overwhelming.....so i came up with an idea of how to do that without much work on my part.......... b/c i am a lazy woman.
the following are my facebook posts from September -November 2009. it has kind of become similar to journal entries for me, an almost daily thing.
so mostly this entry is just for me----- to have a way to keep these posts instead of them being lost in facebook world.
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Sept. 3----my daughter puts on the most fabulous most pitiful show when she is fighting sleep. she pulls all sorts of tricks: i have to potty, i have garbage in my mouth (??), i dropped blankie, i pee peed, i need a drink etc. here is a new one today: Mommy! I cry into my pillow! ha ha ha

Sept. 3----okay, so far jenny's bedtime performance tonight has included these classics: "mommy, i hurt myself!" (a regular that i forgot to mention) and also a new one: "kristen? you in there?"

Sept. 6----made it to worship against all odds, only to discover while there that my princess is sick. no wonder she was kicking up so much about going to nursery. sorry everybody whom i possibly have infected!

Sept. 21---its hard to get a shower when you have a tot and an infant also. that is why i stopped by jordan hare on saturday night for the super soaker. what a good game. glad that we stuck it out. Weegle Weegle to my auburn fam!!!!!!!!

Sept. 24---i can't stand it when i am at grocery store and need some item that is hard to find. have been looking for velveeta at bi-lo for a whole month. there should be a spot in grocery store just for these miscellaneous products with no proper home..........

Sept. 25---serenity now ---my dog ate a mushroom and is on death bed. was curious if any of you have any mushroom stories or information??

Sept. 26---our sweet Hank has gone to doggie heaven. he was the best of all the bestest dogs that ever lived!!! he was a golden retriever and golden is good way to describe him. we struck gold when we adopted him. p.s. watch out for mushrooms people!!!

Sept. 27---somebody stop me from facebooking and make me start getting ready for church!!! its a miracle i woke up this early!!!
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Oct. 2-----i love our mom's bible study!!! God bless all the teachers and volunteers!!!

Oct. 7-----people----we LOST the blankie. in the mall. i am exhausted

Oct. 7-----Jenny is really being a big girl about losing the blankie. i am surprised that i am so disappointed that we lost it. i guess i am sentimental ! today for nap and bedtime she was satisfied with the backup blankie--- aka "troy's blankie". she has not had any sort of meltdown yet. but i did not take her to bible class........

Oct. 12----bad experience today at doctor office makes me want to smoosh people

Oct. 13----as a result of the bad experience yesterday, i did not get my flu vaccine as i had planned to, and then i had some flu symptoms begin on the same day. how bizarre is that? i think it is going to be a light case......whatever it is.

Oct. 15----my child just purposely spilled about 8 ounces of milk out of her sippy cup onto our tan velvet chair. Lord help me not to whoop her too hard

Oct. 16----my very first trip to the ER -----wasn't so bad

Oct. 16----Jenny has on my shoes and she is walking around pretending to be me. She says "I got on shoes and goin to da hospital" then she says "I go to doctor and get band aids" (both accurate accounts of my day) what does this say about me? can't stay away from the doctors this year!!!

Oct. 22----i really think that life on second shift is the best fit for our family. Not sure what Will thinks about it, and I suppose his opinion IS important since he is the one actually working it. hee hee

Oct. 23----accidentally stepped on a wooden alphabet block. my middle toe did not approve.

Oct. 23----had a blast at Boo in the Zoo!! Jenny was Cinderella and Troy sported his Jackolantern outfit and a silly halloween hat. We really enjoyed hanging out with our friends. Fun costumes, trick or treat, face paint, pony ride, carousel, funnel cake etc. We are maxxed out on fun!!!

Oct. 26----jenny and her friend thought it would be fun to sneak away from the halloween party today at church and give their moms heart attacks. after 5 min. we found them in the GYM sitting on the bleachers. that is like a whole mile away from the cafe - seriously??!! i only took my eyes off of her for 10 seconds. just goes to show how quick those little villians are. SCARY STUFF! who needs horror movies just lose your child.

Oct. 26----if Jenny doesn't poop in the potty soon i am going to just lose it people. any suggestions? or just some sympathetic stories i can relate to?

Oct. 30----I was denied access to facebook for about 2 days and surprisingly i have survived

Oct. 30----must have bad karma cause i am sick AGAIN. fever is not cool.

Oct. 31----booooo. my kid got sick on halloween. not BOO! but booooooooooo........
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Nov. 1-----ya'll can all hate on me, cause my babies still slept until 8am today, despite the time change. i love them, i do love those babies. they are good to momma when it really counts. they know how much i despise getting up early.

Nov. 3-----troy tickles me when he watches TV in his chair. all he needs is a tiny bucket of KFC and the remote. his favorite is of course football.

Nov. 4-----my cat is in charge of me and that really bothers me

Nov. 5-----just another day in potty training paradise

Nov. 9-----took jenny for her first trip to play in "sandbox" today (at chester frost). how did she make it this long without ever playing in sand i don't know. poor girl didn't have a shovel --i got her a big scoop from the kitchen. finally took my camera with me somewhere. maybe i will be inspired to post pictures on here. its a rare occurrence

Nov. 13----i am scared. my dishwasher and washing machine are "talking" back. it must be the drains. it comes and goes. they are making noises like a coffee pot makes.

Nov. 14----getting things in order for our small group wieny roast tonight------woot woot! love a good fire and some marshmallows too!!!!!

Nov. 14----if you happened to be in soddy daisy today at 9am, and you also happened to be standing on my front porch, and you looked in my window.........you would have seen my girl
Jenny doing her business as usual behind the curtain. but THIS TIME, people, THIS TIME she was sitting on the POTTY !! thats right i said poo in THE POTTY not in the pants. talk about excitement. she gets to pick out a new doll at the toy store!!

Nov. 17----Fall means no bugs, no sweat, no sweltering heat. Not to mention the gorgeous leaves! My heaven will have fall weather

Nov. 19----dear Santa: all i want for Christmas is for grocery stores to PUUUULEEEEASE come
up with a new shopping buggy for those of us who have a giganto car seat in the main part of buggy!!! and a 2 yr old in the buggy seat!!! i need to get more than 1 bag of groceries, and that is all that i can cram in around poor Troy. although i am perfecting my skills. sometimes i raise his canopy and prop the bread up over his head.

Nov. 21----i have this bad habit of putting the trash on the back porch sometimes. if its stinky. then i forget to take it down to the can. and now tonight i have an unidentified large critter snuggled up inside the bag for a long winters nap. i was made aware of our visitor by Dee who was making his crazy noise while he gazed out the door.

Nov. 22----so this morning it was obvious our little visitor was gone b/c the trash bag was no longer intact and the trash was scatter around some. BUT guess who came back tonight and peered at me thru my back door while i was eating my pot roast?? jenny thought he was pretty great. he finally left the porch and jenny said he went home to his momma to get some food. he really wanted my pot roast.

Nov. 28----I believe in Auburn and love it !!!!

Nov. 30----is very excited that yesterday is over. jenny sick with fever all day and me wallering in headache agony all day. So glad Will was off work !! Now, what fun can we get into today?
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OK. tune in later for facebook posts from December 2009-February 2010.